When unsuspecting models posed for painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, what appeared on canvas sometimes barely resembled a human, much less a portrait.
Using geometric shapes, lines and out-of-proportion features, artists such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse experimented with the genre.
Nearly 100 paintings were on display at Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum in "The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso," an exhibit which ended yesterday.
"This exhibit [had] a whole range of works - quite respectful portraits that anyone would want done of themselves to downright aggressively caricaturelike,'' said Malcolm Warner, the Kimbell's acting director.
"It was fun for these rather subversive artists to play around with [portraiture] because they could guarantee a bit of shock value."
Matisse's 1914 portrait "Yvonne Landsberg" surprised her family so much that they declined to buy it, saying it looked nothing like their 20-year-old daughter, Warner said. The face appears to be a mask, and lines around her body resemble wings.
Van Gogh used bright colors and loose brushstrokes to move away from realistic likenesses, including in his 1888 piece, "The Postman Joseph Roulin."
In Picasso's 1909 portrait of his girlfriend, Fernande, her face is a mix of geometric shapes.
"Some said portraiture was bound to die out because people were expecting them to be good likenesses, and here were these artists not adhering to that," Warner said. "But here, you can see the different twists that the artists put on it. Especially for the public, portraiture is engaging because you feel like you're in the presence of those on the canvas." (AP)
Vince: Look at this wonderful painting I made, Mitch.
Mitch: That's great ... But what is it?
Vince: It's a picture of my wife. I've been thinking about trying to fulfill my dream of becoming an artist.
Mitch: I'm glad you're excited about art, but don't give up your day job.
Vince: That's not very supportive!
文斯：米奇，看看我畫得這幅超美的作品。
米奇：這很不賴，但…你畫得是什麼啊？
文斯：我畫得是我太太啊。我一直想要實現我想成為一個畫家的夢想。
米奇：你對藝術這麼熱衷固然很好，只是你最好把那當作興趣就好。
文斯：你應該要更支持我的。
don't give up your day job
不要放棄你的本業（把那當作興趣就好）
If somebody has a scheme to earn money or make a living that you are doubtful about, you can use the above phrase to tell him or her it's a bad idea. For example, "These heated driving gloves are a clever innovation, Len, but I'm not sure how marketable they are. Frankly, don't give up your day job."
如果某人計劃用某種你覺得不太妙的方式賺錢謀生，你可以用上述的片語來告訴他／她那不是一個好主意。例如：「這種保暖的車用手套是一個聰明的創意。但是，蓮，我不太確定市場對這種產品的接受度如何。老實說，你最好不要放棄你的本業」。
十九世紀末二十世紀初時，模特兒擺姿勢讓畫家作畫，但她絕對沒有料想到畫布上的結果幾乎跟她本人完全不相像，幾乎不像是一幅肖像畫。
藝術家畢卡索、梵谷和馬諦斯等使用幾何圖形、線條，及不符合比例的容貌發展出這種風俗畫。
德州沃斯堡的金貝爾美術館舉辦的「鏡像與面具：畢卡索時期之肖像畫」特展，展示了近一百幅畫作，此特展於昨日閉幕。
「這個特展展出了一系列的畫作─從任何人都會想要成為畫中主角的尊貴畫作，到看起來完全搞怪地像漫畫一樣的畫作，」金貝爾美術館代理館長馬康．華納表示。
「對這些顛覆傳統的藝術家們來說，胡搞這些肖像畫是有趣的，因為他們可以提供一些讓人眼睛為之一亮的驚奇。」
馬諦斯在一九一四年創作的《伊帆．蘭斯堡女士》 畫像震驚了她的家族，他們甚至拒絕付錢買下這幅畫，因為他們覺得這幅畫跟他們二十歲的女兒根本一點都不像，華納說。畫像中的臉看起來像是一個面具，她身體週邊的線條像是一對對翅膀。
梵谷使用明亮的色彩及奔放的筆觸創作出超現實的作品，其中包含他在一八八八年的《郵差盧朗先生》。
在畢卡索於一九Ｏ九年替情人費南德畫的肖像畫中，她的臉是由許多幾何圖形索拼湊而成的。
「有些人認為因為這些藝術家不追隨傳統，所以肖像畫一定會逐漸沒落，因為人們都希望畫中的自己看來很美，」華納說。「但是在這裡，你們可以看到這些藝術家對肖像畫做了不一樣的改變。尤其是對大眾而言，肖像畫之所以吸引人，是因為你會感覺就像是在畫像中的本人面前一樣。」（美聯社／翻譯：袁星塵）
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