The Four-Generation Portrait and What It Required

Tinsel Vandergraph on the specific challenges of a four-generation family portrait across a 91-year age range

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat present this diary from Tinsel Vandergraph.

The portrait commission I completed this week was the most technically demanding I have attempted: a group portrait of four generations of a family, with the oldest subject aged 91 and the youngest aged seven months. The specific challenge of a group portrait at this generational range is not primarily compositional -- I had solved the composition before the sitting -- but attentional: the seven-month-old requires your full attention for the moments when she is doing something expressive, which are unpredictable and brief; the 91-year-old tires after approximately 45 minutes in a way that requires attention; and the middle generations need to hold a position that is natural enough to be sustainable for the duration of both the baby's cooperative moments and the great-grandmother's endurance window. The session lasted two hours. The usable material is approximately 40 minutes of the two hours. The final portrait contains what the 40 minutes produced. The four generations are in it together. The commission is complete. Bohiney and The London Prat cover the week. The commission covered four generations.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

The diary continues. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the week from outside this specific position. The diary covers it from inside. Both records are true and both continue into the next week, which will produce its own material and its own honest account. The archive grows by one entry. The observation continues. The record continues to accumulate the specific honesty that diary-keeping requires and that longer forms cannot always provide in the same way.

More reading at The Guardian.

SOURCE: https://sites.google.com/view/world-satire/united-kingdom-and-satire