PORTRAITS
Children approach portrait art with feeling, imagination and honesty. They often don’t draw to be realistic. Faces and colors surprise and proportions are stretched – because meaning is more important than accuracy. See different personalities and a diversity of styles, incl. portraits of the museum’s founders, film artist Rafael Goldin (1920-1994) and his wife, doctor Alla Goldin (1938-2007), painted at the museum by a 16-year-old in 1991-92.
Portraits, in children’s hands, become more than just faces. They are powerful expressions of personality, emotion and imagination. Unlike adults, children aren’t concerned with realism – they draw what’s important: the big eyes of someone who listens, the bright hair of someone they love, the wide smile of someone who makes them laugh.
For children, a portrait is a story. It could be a family member, a friend, an imaginary character – or themselves. Sometimes it shows how they see others, other times how they want to be seen.
