Thomas-Alfred Jones 

Curator: Here we have a portrait by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes titled “Thomas-Alfred Jones”. It appears to be oil on canvas, and is rendered in the style of Romanticism. Editor: The gaze is intense. He’s holding something… a pen, perhaps? It gives an air of sophistication but also vulnerability, doesn’t it? I wonder what kind of stories he holds? Curator: Given that the portrait is executed with impasto techniques, you can really discern the texture of the medium here. The thickness and layering of the paint gives depth to the coat and brings this Thomas-Alfred Jones, whoever he may be, to life! It begs the question: what was Chavannes’ working relationship with this individual? Editor: That’s fascinating, and it brings forth the broader semiotics here. We have a rather striking figure with his clothing suggesting formality and status in society. What psychological relationship is he enacting here with the artist? How can that relate to a shared cultural language? Curator: Yes, the romantic era did attempt to blur the lines between high art and craft. Notice how Chavannes is consciously employing the materiality to explore not just aesthetics, but also societal positioning through labour! I am wondering what a forensic analysis of the materials would indicate to us today... Editor: Interesting idea! Returning to Jones’s almost severe posture, perhaps the portrait tries to present an idea of the sitter as both dignified, yet internally fractured. Or, does this reading only exist through our contemporary lens? Curator: That is a rather compelling reading of both the materiality, which grounds us, and how you link it with an ethereal aspect through his imagery. It allows us to speculate about Thomas-Alfred Jones, and more generally, portraiture. Editor: Precisely. Art invites questions and provokes an encounter between past and present, observer and the observed. And considering material and image together does seem like the correct approach here!