People enjoy looking at things that they can relate to," said Richard Whitney. "They don't want to have to read a book to understand what a work of art means." A champion of the classical representational style and often referred to as "one of the best living painters of our generation," artist Richard Whitney describes above the fundamental reason that realism in art is essential.

True art is not merely decoration, but a means by which an artist can express himself and at the same time communicate something to the observer. For that to occur the observer needs to understand what he is looking at. As an artist, Whitney feels he has no choice but to paint in the realist style.

"I am fascinated by the beauty of the real world around me," he said. "I must capture it in my works, instead of making something up."

In keeping with this philosophy, Whitney stresses the importance of "learning to see." To paint something realistically, he pointed out, you must be able to see it. That sounds simple enough, but it isn't just seeing. It is observing every detail with a keen and sensitive eye; a well trained eye.

"Learning to see could take three or four years of extensive training," he said. "First you have to see shapes correctly, then colors."

Once you learn to see, you still have a long way to go. At this stage you can truly see and copy an image, but a camera can do that. There is much more to a painting, in fact the painting's very soul is found in the artist's interpretation of what he sees. It is this that makes a picture more than a picture; it transforms it into art.

"A great portrait must be more than beautifully painted; it must also move the viewer to on a deeper level," Whitney said.

Whitney also believes that painting from life, as much as possible, is vital for the artist to be able to find his interpretation of a subject's reality and therefore create a great portrait. A photograph contains too much detail, showing both the beautiful and the ugly aspects of a subject. If you only paint from the photo, you loose the ability to pick and choose which details you should include to create the most beautiful as well as most accurate representation of the subject. . .the details that will emphasize the subject's most characteristic aspects. While a camera is purely objective, the artist has the luxury of being more subjective. There is also the element of time to consider.

"In a photograph, you only get to see one moment in time," Whitney said. "You get to the soul of your subject by combining the many different moments that you observe in a live sitting. By doing this you can create something that is better than anything you actually saw."

Whitney's works exemplify this, delicately balancing subject observed and subject idealized. His painting of his daughter, Emily Rose, seems so real, one could easily expect the young woman to speak or blink her soft blue-grey eyes.

It is his steadfast dedication to painting and to the training a learning it takes to paint on such a grand scale that truly links Whitney to the classical masters he so admires. It is a dedication that began at an early age. When he was three years old, his adoptive mother sat him down with a box of crayons and tried to show him how to draw a simple house. After a few attempts, young Richard became frustrated and they put drawing aside. Several days later, Richard got the crayons back out himself and drew his first picture. His crayon rendering of a sunset-shrouded medieval castle, complete with gallant knights on horseback, drove his parents to declare him a genius. While it was a typical parental reaction, it was clear to anyone that Whitney actually did possess above average talents, and it has only gotten clearer since.

"From that first drawing, I have known and always known that I wanted to be and would be an artist," Whitney said.

Whitney comes from a long line of painters, including Francois Boucher, the French Baroque master.

"Painting is in my blood," he said.

Also in his blood is a love and respect for nature. At his home and studio on a pond in Stoddard, New Hampshire, he has created a haven called Studios at Crescent Pond that is a world away from hustle and bustle. Here, he and his wife and fellow artist, Sandy Sherman, have proved their devotion to the preservation of the natural world by providing and maintaining a habitat that attracts and shelters local wildlife. In 1996, The National Wildlife Federation recognized the Studios at Crescent Pond property as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat, and visitors are welcome to come and enjoy the tranquility every Saturday.

Whitney is most famous for his portraiture. Well known commissions include Secretary of the Navy James Webb, sculptor Frederick Hart and his family, and Governors Hugh Gregg, John King and Hugh Gallen. However, Whitney also paints landscapes to take a break from portrait painting, and the idyllic countryside surrounding the Studios at Crescent Pond provides plenty of inspiration.

Obviously a role model to his peers, as the chairman of the American Society of Portrait Artists, Whitney has won over 40 regional and national awards and his paintings hang in over 600 public and private collections throughout the world including the Anchorage Museum, the Pentagon, the Anderson House Museum, the Newark Museum, Harvard University and the Catholic University of Portugal. But Whitney's style and ideas were not always as accepted or popular as they are today. When abstract painting was at its peak, Whitney was training with noted Boston painter R. H. Ives Gammell.

"When I studied classical painting in the '60s, realism was not taught or encouraged," Whitney said. "But now there is a resurgence of portrait painting in the representational style."
As thousands of budding talents are now being trained in realism, Whitney downplays his role in the revival.

"I don't think I can really take any credit for it, but I'm glad it has happened," he said.

The rest of the art world may disagree with Whitney on this one point. As one of the most celebrated artists of his time, it seems impossible that his life and work have not exerted some influence and been at least a part of the force turning the tide back toward realism and portraiture.
Whitney quoted another famous painter, Edward Tarbell, when he described the three qualities that when combined with talent and training, separate a great artist from the rest.

"Hard work, perseverance and the ability to endure repeated hardship and continue on. . .these make a great artist," he said.

Whether he meant to or not, at least in this writer's mind, Richard Whitney just described himself.

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_________________________________________________________________ Jennifer Kornegay is a writer living in Montgomery, Alabama.