Portrait Of A Gentleman 1923

This is Boris Grigoriev’s Portrait of a Gentleman, maybe from the 1920s; painted with visible brushstrokes in a muted palette, it makes me think about how artists wrestle with capturing a likeness. Look at those fleshy pinks and grays Grigoriev uses to build up the face. He is making this man solid, a real presence, but it's also a performance. I wonder what Grigoriev thought about his sitter? Was there a connection between them? The eyes look tired, a little sad, but also knowing. Grigoriev's got him dressed up in a bow tie and suit, but there’s an undeniable humanity there in the wrinkles around his eyes and the way his hair thins on top. It reminds me a little of some of Alice Neel’s portraits, where she really gets under the skin of her subjects. There’s a sense of both revealing and concealing, you know? Painting is like that – always a back and forth, a conversation between the artist, the subject, and us, the viewers.