i-xxii Front matter.qxd - Brandeis Institutional Repository

From Portraiture to Pictures of People / 23As in personal interactions, when one views a portrait one attends ƒrst to theface, then to hand gestures, and then to body language. The artist, however, beginswith the stretched canvas, and its proportions as well as the relationship ofthe ƒgure to the framing edge create the initial metaphor from which others areelaborated. Neel confessed to Hills: “You know what I enjoy almost the most ofanything? Dividing up the canvas. When I was in high school I was very goodat mathematics...” 34 The fundamental pictorial metaphor, then, is an orientationalone: the vertical or horizontal orientation of the rectangular plane is ametaphorical body against which the represented body is measured. What arethe proportions of the canvas and what is the relation of the ƒgure to the framingedges? Neel’s “deductive structure,” the relationship of ƒgure to frame,provides preliminary characteristics of expansion, constriction, harmony, andtension from which to deduce metaphors for the depicted personality.Having established the proportional relationship of ƒgure to canvas, Neelcan be very free with anatomy, and expand, truncate, or torque the body as herpurposes require. For instance, the 1965 portraits of Sol Alkaitis (ƒg. 9) andFuller Brush Man (ƒg. 10) are vertical rectangles of equal size, 40" x 27". However,their physical proportions in relation to those of the canvas are completelydifferent. Sol is an elongated rectangle, so tall that his head pressesagain the canvas’s upper edge. Sol is “up,” and he is going to stay that way becausethe diagonal of the table top pins him there. The erect body and headsignal alertness, but the secondary diagonal framing edge, cutting off the legsand feet (potential motion), signal rigidity and entrapment. The metaphor“alert” must link to “cornered”: Sol may affect a debonair pose, but he is alsopressured. In contrast, Fuller Brush Man, lacking Sol’s shaftlike torso and longneck, is a symphony in squares: square hands, suit, shoulders, even the samplesin his pocket. He is guilelessly stolid, and the metaphor is not one of entrapmentbut of stasis: going nowhere. Each ƒgure’s proportions, then, formthe metaphor for character from which facial expression and gesture will beinterpreted.Once the dominant character trait is established, Neel can elaborate on anindividual personality through the use of ontological metaphor. In speech,ontological metaphors are frequently personiƒcations: concepts identiƒed aspersons. In images ontological metaphors work in reverse: people are identiƒedas concepts, or as traits associated with animals or objects. Because Neelis a draftsman and creates a painted outline drawing before beginning to paint„esh and fabric, she limns physical features with surgical precision. Sol’s longneck, small head, and beaklike nose resemble an ostrich’s, whereas FullerBrush’s crouched pose and begging paws resemble a dog’s. 35The use of animals as ontological metaphors for human characteristics is afundamental device of caricature as well as an integral part of colloquial