Over the years, portraiture has allowed artists throughout time to express concerns and interests about the human condition.
Throughout history, those types of works have been represented through sculpture, painting, photography, and many other creative mediums.
Some of those portraits from different mediums are currently on display through Dec. 30 at the Ellen Noël Art Museum in its new exhibition called Spitting Image.
The exhibition features portraits from the museum’s permanent collection and opened up Sept. 15.
It is the first of exhibition at the Ellen Noël Art Museum since it moved to its temporary location at the Presidential Archives next door to the museum.
The Presidential Archives (located on the UTPB campus, 4919 E. University Blvd.) will be the Ellen Noël’s home while the museum’s original location undergoes renovation work.
“It has worked out so incredibly well that there’s such a lovely synergy between what we do at the Ellen Noël Art Museum and what the Presidential Archives is all about,” museum Executive Director Sheila Perry said. “To be honest, being in partnership with UTPB is pretty fantastic. So far, everything is going really well, and I think you’re going to see unique things that would not happen if we didn’t have this relationship on the go, so it’s really exciting. You should be here in the mornings when the kids come through and it’s their first time seeing art. It’s good for our community.”
The exhibition features portraits that have been stored in the museum’s vault and recent acquisitions.
The most recent acquisition includes a painting by Henriette Wyeth Hurd with a painting titled “Tommye Leigh Moss” from the late 1970s donated by the estate of Betty Lee Moss on behalf of her children.
With presidential portraits lining up the walls at the archives, Ellen Noël Museum Curator Daniel Zies said it was only fitting that the first exhibition to take place would feature other different types of portraits.
“We decided to focus on portraiture, and we borrowed a few pieces from local collectors but it’s mostly pieces from the museum’s own collection,” Zies said. “We did this because we also have fine arts connection which is why we bring third-graders from the school district and they come in and draw themselves so it’s been really fun. It’s been fun to show them these different pieces of art work and describe what it’s like today. Kids are into selfies today, but we show them what it was like before cell phones.”
Perry also said the museum wanted to do something that spoke to both their collection and the collection at the Presidential Archives.
“Portraiture, sometimes people don’t understand that when it comes to constructing self-image, it’s been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years,” Perry said. “Portraits are the selfies of days gone by. You can learn a lot about how people perceive themselves or want to be perceived by looking at them. You can learn a lot about the history of the time that they were painted or if you’re in the 20th century, what people were feeling in them. I think there’s a natural synergy with how we find ourselves dealing with our online presence and how social media is playing into our own idea of self. We want to spend time with children so that they realize it’s all a construct. … Nobody is exactly the person they put themselves out in the world. There’s not a lot of difference between the selfie that they take and the portraits on the wall.”
One of the important items the museum wants to note is that its regular programs have not stopped because of the renovation.
“The thing I would say is to please be assured that programming is normal,” Perry said. “If you go to the website or go to the papers, the things we do for the community, we’re not going to stop doing. Like us on Facebook and Instagram but for sure, what we’ve done in the past, we will continue to do. All the normal program that we usually do, we’re just doing it 500 feet to the east. Even if you come looking for the museum, you’re going to see that we’re next door. That’s what so great about being here.”
