Week #45, Portraits I

Untitled (Portrait of a Man), c. 1940, ink on paper, 12” x 9”. Oct 7

Untitled (Portrait of a Man), c. 1940, ink on paper, 12” x 9”. Oct 9

In the next few weeks we are going to look at  some slightly unusual portraits that verge on the surreal.  These will all be presented in double or multiple iterations. In the 1940s Dusti Bongé often did quick studies of people she knew, as well as strangers, both in figure studies but also in portrait studies. Sometimes she would draw the same person in multiple positions and at other times she would portray them in the same position multiple times.

In general, Dusti is not known for her portraits, she painted very few of them. But in her works on paper there are quite a few portrait studies. Often they do not include much detail and, with the exception of her own self portraits, the subject is not posing for the picture and possibly not even aware that they are being drawn. And, yet, these studies all show her unique insight and sensibility when it comes to observing, and subsequently capturing, the essence of her fellow humans.

These two portraits obviously are of the same character, a man with very distinguishing characteristics such as his long face, large eyes, aquiline nose,  and lean jaw. We do not know of whom this is a portrait, but he bears a resemblance to another figure whose portraits we will feature soon. Done in the 1940s it could be someone she knew at home, or from her circle of friends in New Orleans, where she spent a lot of time during and after the war.

These drawings are exquisite in their simplicity. In each one the entire profile and bone structure of the face is represented with a minimum of fine ink lines, accented at the hairline, jaw, and neck with a heavy stroke. The vertical lines (one and two respectively) next to the man’s face offer a barely-there sense of background. Signed DB and dated Oct. 7 and Oct. 9, we do not have a specific year for the works, nor were they found together when the collection was first catalogued.