The American evolution of portraiture and the painting of the human figure started in Colonial times. Amateur painters called "Limners" would travel from town to town painting signs, tradeposts and people. To have a portrait commissioned in the 18th and 19th century was a representation of status. Those who could afford a portrait were sending a message to those who could see it.t. Although a large percentage of portraits in the United States in this period were unsigned and amateur, there were American artists that studied abroad and produced exceptional representations of their sitters. These artsts included Charles Wilson Peale, Gibert Stuart, John Singleton Copley and, Thomas Sully. As a popular genre in painting, portraits are represented in almost every style from the more academic approach of the Peales to the primitive yet elegant portraits of Ammi Phillips, to the impresionists portraits by Mary Cassat to even modernist and abstract portraits by the likes of Walt Kuhn. Portraits provide a window to the soul of the sitter as seen by the artist. You'll often find among the sitter objects and a background that tell the viewer more about the sitter.

Whereas the portrait often embraces the personality of the sitter, the human figure was idealized and an expression of movement. Several American painters were known for their expression of the human figure. Artists like John Singleton Copley captured movement, Thomas Sully excentuated the female figure and Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins exceled at realistic depictions of the human figure through his extensive knowledge of the human anatomy. Noted impressionists like Rae Sloan Bredin and Guy Pene Dubois created rich scenes with human figures at one with their scenery. As the ashcan school and abstract expressionism evolved in the twentieth century, human figures were illustrated in less pristine environments and situations. These artists sought to express an emotional conveyance of the figure as opposed to an absolute likeness.

HL CHALFANT buys and sells figure and portrait paintings from all periods and genres. If you have a painting you believe would interest us, please feel free to contact us with information on the size, medium and artist when possible.