Drawing on the several-hundred-year-old tradition of portraiture, professional artist Richard Whitney visited Hillsdale College campus this past week to share his knowledge with art students and artists from the community.
Whitney is the official artist of the GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and he spent a week on campus teaching students about portrait painting andthe history of his genre.
“I am totally honored to be here,” local artist Beth Voulgaris, a member of the Jackson Civic Art Association said. “It’s such an intimate situation. And to have an artist of such prestige, I am just flabbergasted.”
For the past week, Whitney has taught Professor of Art Samuel Knecht’s portraiture class as well as a seminar for art students, in which all those attending used the same model and received personal direction and attention from Whitney to improve their technique.
Portraiture was just natural to him, he said.
“I always drew heads, always. Even as a small child I always drew heads,” he said. “In high school I drew caricatures of all 65 teachers.”
Other things did not come as easily.
“My teacher, Mr. Gammel, said I had a gift for portraiture and it was something I should consider as a career, and I am so thankful that he did.”
Whitney noted the importance of teaching in the artistic world, so as to pass on traditions, techniques, and knowledge to the next generation.
After more than 20 years of teaching, Whitney said it makes a huge difference in the art world, for without formal teaching of skills, they are lost.
“Hillsdale College is extremely fortunate to have an artist of Sam Knecht’s caliber,” he said. “He’s a terrific artist and teacher and students here have no idea how lucky they are.”
He himself can trace his teachings back through the years, and in his presentation, he demonstrated the lineage he carries and is passing down to his own students.
“They are extremely fortunate to have classically-trained artists, especially as this is one out of about twelve good-quality programs [in the United States].”
Whitney focused especially on the masters and their specific teachings during his lecture. He examined their use of the same precision to maintain the tradition. He noted particularly the shading of the figures, and the use of precision and imprecision to guide the audience to the most important aspects of the painting.
“I would just say his lecture really presented his best as an artist and his content really reverberates since he’s actually practicing it,” senior art major Nell O’Leary said. “It was a great reminder of all the masters and he hit all the important ones.”
As a professional artist, Whitney was also able to share insight into the professional world of artists and how he supports his family using his portraiture skills.
“I am represented by most of the major portrait galleries in the country, something like 15 or so that share my work with those who are interested,” he said. “I get almost half of my commissions on my own, which means I don’t have to pay a gallery commission.”
Varying from portraits of children and families to posthumous remembrances, Whitney has painted a wide variety of high profile people.
“Mitt Romney has given me more publicity than anyone else I’ve ever painted,” he said. “Someone like Mitt Romney saw me through a tour, and Mitt Romney was impressed enough by what he saw to say to his assistant to find that artist, and he didn’t even bother to look into any others. My commissions come half reputation and half dealer.”
Most prominent among his goals, however, is the continuation of the classical tradition.
“I have noticed in the last 10 years a huge interest in the revival of classical painting world wide,” he said. “I’m trying to promote the continuation of the classical tradition which is essentially separate from modern art. I’ve written a book on the principles of painting that have been passed down and used by thousands of artists.”
