Artist Details
| Artist Name | Leonard Thiessen |
|---|---|
| Born | 1902 in Omaha, Nebraska |
| Died | 1989 in Omaha, Nebraska |
Artist Biography
This exhibition includes three different portraits of a single person, Omaha artist Leonard Thiessen. One is a painted portrait by fellow artist, Paul Otero. Another one is a photograph by Larry S. Ferguson, inside a studio environment in which the portrait by Otero hangs on the wall. The last portrait is a self-portrait in oil from 1937, much earlier than the other two, capturing Thiessen as a younger man.
Comparing and contrasting each of these portraits is an exercise in visual storytelling. Posed differently in each portrait, Thiessen seems to reveal something different about himself in each. As a young man, he appears poised and inquisitive, asserting a sense of seriousness as an artist at the age of thirty-five. In the portrait by Otero, he is more than forty years older and posed much more casually, bringing a cigarette to his mouth. There is a self-confidence in his direct gaze that contrasts sharply with his early self-portrait. In the photograph, he appears the most at ease. This could be the assuredness and wisdom that comes from age, a reflection of his comfortability with the photographer, or the immediacy of photography compared to painting. Regardless of the reason, each portrait, even with the shared subject, presents the multiplicity of the human spirit across time.
