Portrait of Ioannis Soukaras 1954

Panayiotis Tetsis made this portrait of Ioannis Soukaras with thick, bold strokes of oil paint. I can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the canvas, building up the image layer by layer. I wonder what it was like for Tetsis to capture Soukaras. I bet they talked a lot, trying to get the nuances of his character just right. Look at the way Tetsis painted the hands – one holding a cigarette, the other resting on his lap. It is in these details, the tilt of the head, the gaze in his eyes, that we glimpse Soukaras’ personality. There’s something about the immediacy of the brushstrokes that feels very alive, like Tetsis is speaking to us directly through the paint. It reminds me of the portraits by Alice Neel, where the artist’s presence is so strongly felt. Painting is a conversation, each artist building on what came before, adding their own voice to the mix. And, like any good conversation, the best paintings leave you with more questions than answers.