Windows to the Soul
Michael Payne | The Magazine Antiques | 22nd August 2025
Before photography, recording one’s image basically meant portraiture. The well-to-do could afford detailed ceremonial images. In regional USA itinerant artists developed an alternative – vernacular portraiture. It combined an uncomplicated “sentimental and emotional” aesthetic and only needed mid-level art skills. The absence of shadowing or nuanced colour transitions. and scant regard for perspective reveal these were not big city artists. Once photography arrived this unique genre faded away.