Henrich Nauen was a German painter who lived from 1880-1941. This image was a portrait of his friend Dr Walter Kaesbach. The image that I have included is unfortunately a poor quality as I took it on my phone, but the actual print is one of the most gripping portraits that I have come across. I have always been interested in this area of art, as being not particularly talented when it comes to drawing peoples faces, I have been curious as to how other people do this. I haven’t been able to find many other images of the subject to compare it to, so I don’t know if it is a true likeness or not. However, in my opinion, the portrait is so expressive it probably wouldn’t reflect any more of Dr Kaesbach’s personality if it were a photograph.
I can’t quite determine what it is about the facial expression that I love. I saw this in a local gallery, and every time I walked past the portrait I saw something different reflected within it. At first I thought that it was quite a sad, reflective and vulnerable piece. It almost appeared that this was done as tribute to Henrich Nauen’s friend instead of a portrait for him to display in his house. However, the more I looked at it the more I felt that this was also about this man’s power. There are many strong dominant lines in the portrait which give me the feeling of strength and determination.
I have looked into the other works of Henrich Nauen, but haven’t seen anything that I admire quite as much as this portrait. It was that when I first looked at it I felt like I was looking at a person not a piece of art, this was what I really liked about it.
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