Since 1994, Canadian painter Tony Scherman has been engaged in painting a cycle of large-scale portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte. Setting himself the challenge of producing an accurate likeness of a historical figure from before the age of photography, Scherman’s paintings chronicle the life of Napoleon using primarily the image of his face. Through exhaustive research of celebrated commemorative paintings, official and unofficial portraits, prints, illustration, cameos, and coins, Scherman has arrived at a a composite image of Napoleon by what might be called “forensic portraiture.”

Each of the paintings depicts Napoleon at a psychological charged moment. The cycle begins with the smallest painting, Napoleon’s First Shave, swell with the painting of The Emperor’s Coronation, and concludes with Napoleon’s Last Shave, when, on the eve of his death, an introspective prisoner contemplates his arsenic-sealed fate. Organized along cinematic lines, these work are tour de force using a single motif: the iconic visage of Napoleon pictured over a forty year span. Behind each portrait is the implied history of France and its political, social, and cultural narratives, which determine subtle shifts in the countenance, composition, and treatment of the painted surface.

WORKS
26

DIMENSIONS

40 x 40 to 72 x 72 (inches)
101.6 x 101.6 to 182.88 x 182.88 (cm)

SPACE REQUIREMENTS

250 linear feet (76.2 linear meters)

INQUIRIES

exhibitions@curatorial.org
626.577.0044

FEE

$4,500