Freeze Frame: A Multimedia Investigation into Portraiture

What’s makes a portrait? What does it mean to capture a subject for others to see? How have the introduction of new technologies historically changed what we understand a portrait to be? This course examines these questions by looking at the practice of portraiture in diIerent media, including literature, painting, and photography. Moving across these forms, students will consider what it means to generate a likeness and how diIerent genres and historical periods of portraiture operate under often conflicting expectations, desires, and understandings of accuracy. From the painter’s capacity to capture a subject’s soul to the poet’s textual manifestation of a figure to the influencer’s branded drive for self-promotion, portraitists’ skills and facility with technologies of representation will be investigated according to changing aesthetic ideals and the ethical implications of these practices. While this deep dive into portraiture will be facilitated by readings in literary analysis, critical theory, and visual culture, students will also practice their skills through a series of assignments, creating visual and textual portraits of subjects over the course of the semester. Class and studio visits with painters, photographers, and writers from Rutgers and the local community will provide inspiration for these practical exercises and our meditations on portraiture.