the exhibition put the portrait at the centre of elisabeth biron von curland’s work, in two parts. the first takes the portrait in the classical sense — the way the painter usually works and shows outside her studio. short of any expressive or abstracting gesture, she renders her subject naturalistically; her interpretation shows in fine nuances of expression on one side, and in posture, gesture, action and context on the other.
the second part is devoted to a more unconventional, experimental approach: works made in a freer creative act that had not yet left the studio. they grow out of reworking naturalistic preliminary studies — sketch-like overpainting and collaged insertions that underline, comment on or estrange features of expression, posture and context. an unusual process that leads to surprising and remarkable characterisations.
