The gardener, portrait of Valérie H.
huile sur toile, 100×100 cm coll. particulière
“A good portrait is not just a portrait in which the faithful representation of a model is proposed: not only must the copy ‘resemble’ the model, but it can only do so by imitating what makes the model resemble only itself, and therefore is inimitable; it is the imitation of the inimitable that makes the quality of a portrait: in other words, resemblance can only be read as difference. If the painting does not represent what is inimitable, the portrait is only a ‘robot portrait’, the painting becomes a ‘genre painting’, representing a certain type of man, etc.” Jean-Marie Pontevia