Taylor Wessing Prize 2012 and a matter of dignity

The National Portrait Gallery on a sunny Saturday in August

My first two posts of the year contained major moans about the January weather and post Christmas blues. On the LawNewsIndex front 'secret courts', 'referral fee ban' and the coalition government's tussle with the ECHR had dominated the domestic agenda. But, it really had not been all that bad a month. One of my most memorable afternoons this January had been spent in a photographic portrait exhibition sponsored by a 224 years old La w Firm. It was of course the Taylor Wessing Prize 2012 exhibition at the National Portrait Galler y, an event Taylor Wessing has been sponsoring for a number of years. The exhibition closes on 14th February and the £2 entrance fee is a bargain considering that the ticket is also a discount voucher redeemable against the price of the excellent catalogue accompanying the exhibition. I should mention at this point that I have absolutely no affiliation to the law firm Taylor Wessing or the National Portrait Gallery. That said, the latter does have the most charming glass-roofed basement cafe, which has long been my absolute favourite haunt in London on winter mornings. Oh yes, the apricot tart is absolutely divine.

I met up with my friend Neil after visiting the exhibition as he had an opening night's invite to the Gazelli Art House in Mayfair where the Azeri artist Niyaz Najafov was having his first solo art exhibition in UK.

Neil Watson, Editor of TEAS Magazine in front of a painting entitled 'Enemas'

'An Englishman in New' York by Jason Bell

I will reserve Najafov for a future blog as there was a simple question from Neil on our way to Mayfair that perplexed me. Why I was drawn to portraits? I didn't really have a prepared answer. So since then I have been thinking about what it is about faces that draws me to a gallery. Subjectivity would inevitably creep into my answer. A strong portrait carries a sense of dignity whether painted with a brush or light. That dignity may be loud, obnoxious, quiet, confident or represent a multitude of other vices or virtues that appeal to the eye, even if the captured subject does not initiate a strong visceral sense of attraction. A pretty face need not translate into a memorable portrait for me personally, especially when I know little of the subject. An interesting face, captured in an even more interesting context often lends itself to what I find appealing in portraits.

Cardiff After Dark by Maciej Dakowicz

One of my Christmas presents this year had been a photographic portraits book by the Polish street-photographer Maciej Dakowicz. 'Cardiff After Dark' is challenging. It ticks so many of the boxes in my response to Neil's question. Technically, the portraits are beautifully composed with creamy bokeh that ought to make me want to flick through the pages again and again. Yet, the book is disappointing. Nothing wrong with Dakowicz. He is a fine street shooter capturing the fun, frolics and heartbreak of weekend nightlife in the Welsh capital. Inebriated men and women shorn of basic dignity might well be the reality of our towns and cities on Friday and Saturday evenings, but this representation feels dehumanised and totally lacking in any sense of humanity. In comparison, a present from the previous Christmas, a book by the New York based English photographer Jason Bell, An Englishman in New York is what portraiture is all about. In this, each photograph, whether the subject is Zadie Smith or Kate Winslet carries a sense of awe, like the yesteryear creations by masters like Richard Avedon. It is as if I want to know each of the characters. The best portrait reveals something deep within the subject, the best in human spirit. Man is just and I think the very best in photographic portraiture is all about conveying that very sense of justice, the seeking of justice, in peace having found justice or just even the thought of justice. Next time I see Neil I shall have to explain all this!

The week's Twitter highlights had included wonderful interactions with the following from the legal community: