Newsletter #6
The King Charles III portrait & other stuff
“Better late than never” - Charles when he found out he was becoming King, and you, when you learned I was doing a post about Chuck’s portrait by artist Jonathan Yeo that dropped several weeks ago.
I’ll preface this all by saying a painting of this magnitude is getting pocketed for when just the right sports moment comes up, so the newsletter won’t feature any athletic comparisons, but I did want to spend some time breaking down the work. By this point, there have been numerous think pieces written, focusing on the ‘symbolism’ and ‘history’ - my ability to critically analyze anything regarding the British monarchy goes about as deep as their gene pool, but I have seen a lot of fine art, so I wanted to talk more about the past pieces & styling it evokes vs. the ‘meaning’ of the work.
Right off the bat we see some parallels to the painting of Vigo the Carpathian, from Ghostbusters II - military uniform, focused attention on the face, and a blurry, smoky background positioning the figure in what feels like battle.
I saw numerous tweets bringing up the work, and for good reason - they have similar vibes. Next up we’ve got Winold Reiss, a white, German-born artist who “challenged the convention of racial stereotyping by portraying African American, Native American, and Asian American subjects as dignified individuals.” - Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
One of the ways Reiss pulled off this off was by focusing attention on the face, arms, hands, etc of his subject vs. clothes or surroundings. The figure is subsequently brought to the foreground, allowing the spectator to hone in on the human details, and rendering the rest of the work extraneous. We see a lot of this in Yeo’s portrait, where your attention is immediately drawn to the King’s face and hands because that’s what’s been fleshed out.
To pull in a more contemporary piece/style, my mind went to Lucio Fontana, initially for the strong use of red, but also because it just seems like the kind of painting you want to dig some claws in and tear to shreds.
And now we arrive at the coup de grâce - Chaim Soutine’s Le Petit Patissier. Do I even need to talk this one out? It matches on pretty much every level, and makes you wonder if Yeo used it as inspiration/the foundation.
Art/Sports I’m Into
Women’s College World Series
If you’ve never indulged, do yourself a favor and fire up the Women's College World Series. The regional rounds are in progress, and games are electric; fast-paced, incredible crowds, and a setup that encourages highlight-worthy plays. Kim Doss does a great job breaking down the matchups here. Read up and enjoy!
Artist of the Week
Jonas Wood
You’ve probably stumbled upon a Jonas Wood piece in the past - if you haven’t, do yourself a favor and go down a wormhole.
His work beautifully blends art & sports with soothing colors, fun representations of athletes, and a refined yet youthful approach to composition.
I’ve got his work “Green Room Study” on-deck for the inevitable Celtics Finals run.
Sports Photographer You Need to Follow
Brian Babineau
Speaking of that inevitable Celtics run, their team photographer, Brian Babineau, is an absolute gem.
Brian’s framing and storytelling is always excellent, and has risen to new heights during the Playoffs. Follow his work, even if you’re a bitter Knicks fan like me.
