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Portrait Quotes

Lines on portraiture, self-image, and capturing a place.

These lines treat a portrait as more than a likeness, whether it's a classic novel exploring how vanity clashes with a hidden inner self, or a photographer describing years spent capturing the planet from above as a kind of collective portrait. A filmmaker adds that a city on screen often reflects the maker's own view rather than a strict document of reality. See Artist for related creative reflections.

For nearly two years, I was flying above the planet with my camera. I knew straight away that this was something important to do, just at this moment, a portrait of the planet for the millennium year. I worked in...

Quotes by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

My films are never about what Hong Kong is like, or anything approaching a realistic portrait, but what I think about Hong Kong and what I want it to be.

Quotes by Wong Kar-wai

I'm related to the portrait painter George Romney.

Quotes by Wavy Gravy

'The Portrait of Dorian Grey' beautifully articulates how the altruistic part of ourselves clashes with our essentially narcissistic state.

Quotes by Walton Goggins

Artist Quotes

I kept wanting to push my image as validity; I wanted to see my portrait on a wall and know it was okay.

Quotes by Toyin Odutola

I'm very particular who I work with. I'm not interested in portraying women with a cliched, generic look. I'm interested in a model who I can take a portrait of.

Quotes by Tim Walker

Traffic is about drugs. As detailed a portrait as I can muster about what is happening in the drug world, from top to bottom, from policy to how things move on the street.

Quotes by Steven Soderbergh

Just in the last week of his life, you could have seen him at Walgreens or at the Electric Fetus, where he often shopped for records - an astonishing sight, like the Mona Lisa taking in her own portrait at...

Quotes by Steve Rushin

Mehmet was the first sultan, and one of the first Muslims anywhere, to defy religious tradition by allowing his portrait to be made.

Quotes by Stephen Kinzer

Best Quotes

I painted with my husband a portrait of a naked Serge Gainsbourg draped with a French flag, and it hangs in our bedroom. I love gritty and dark art like what the German couple Herakut does.

Quotes by Stephanie Szostak

I like the idea of the documentary as a portrait. There's not a chronological beginning, middle, and end structure. You build something in the editing room that's shaped by getting to know the person and digging deeper, unpeeling the layers...

Quotes by Spike Jonze

By making pictures, you learn the many different properties of photography. I use those properties differently than, say, an advertising agency would, but we're both operating in the same reality. A face painted by Picasso occupies the same reality as...

Quotes by Sigmar Polke

In the case of the Obama poster, I was just exercising my First Amendment rights - and my free speech is exercised visually. People who want to talk or write in order to share an opinion about Obama can do...

Quotes by Shepard Fairey

I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject, rather does the person grow to look like his portrait.

Quotes by Salvador Dali

City Quotes

'MaerskKendal' is a rarity with its British flag, the 'LONDON' home port painted on its bow, its two British chief officers, and its portrait of the queen in the mess room, apparently common courtesy on British ships, but a little...

Quotes by Rose George

I grew up listening to a lot of early '90s hip-hop. I had the debut Wu-Tang album, Biggie, Snoop, that kind of stuff. Hieroglyphics, the Gravediggaz. I remember D.O.C.'s 'The Portrait of a Masterpiece' was something that had a big...

Quotes by Riz Ahmed

Richard Nixon as a 12-year-old was given a portrait of Lincoln that he hung over his bed. Nixon also justified what would later be seen as abuses of power by comparing America in the Vietnam era to the country during...

Quotes by Richard Norton Smith

I do think the past changes at a slower rate. It sits a little more still for its portrait.

Quotes by Richard Greenberg

A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he is being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he's wearing or how he looks.

Quotes by Richard Avedon

Life Quotes

I would hardly call myself an artist in that sense; I doodle, I draw, I'm not a trained artist, I couldn't sit down and do an accurate portrait of anyone.

Quotes by Rene Auberjonois

Frequently Asked Questions

What angle do these Portrait quotes take?
They treat portraiture broadly, from classic literature about vanity and identity to photography and film that capture a place rather than just a face.
Why do people search for portrait quotes?
Artists, photographers, and writers often look for language that frames what a portrait is really trying to say beyond mere likeness.
Is there a literary reference in this collection?
Yes, one line references a classic novel's exploration of vanity clashing with a person's true inner self.
Does this set include quotes about photographing places?
One quote describes years spent photographing the planet from above, treating the whole project as a large-scale image of the world itself.
What related page pairs well with this one?
Try Artist for more on the creative process behind capturing an image.

Across mediums, a portrait becomes less about accuracy and more about intention, what the creator wants the subject to say. Continue with Life or City for related perspectives on capturing a place or a moment.