A View of Lincoln from a Portrait Artist’s Easel

Quality portrait art is very much a celebration of the uniqueness of the human visage, as refined in paintings by such celebrated portrait painters as Atlanta’s Rossin.

Long a leading name in the world of art, his truly striking study of Abraham Lincoln, discussed in a Newsmax Magazine February 2009 cover story, is in fact a beautiful and awe-inspiring case in point. “I wanted to go beyond the well-known image and take a journey into his psyche,” relates Rossin in the Newsmax article. And how Rossin has succeeded in doing just that! The stunning effect of paint and canvas so expertly rallied to a noble cause — is something which astonishes with its powerful, and yet subtle, grandeur.

Rossin’s portrait of Lincoln could pass for an authentic color photograph — if any mere camera lens was capable of capturing life as remarkably as is accomplished on this lucky square of canvas. “What was truly striking for me,” Rossin says, “is Lincoln’s gaze — both calming and provocative.”

And perhaps of some curiosity is the fact that so many of the most wonderful character studies which top professional portrait artists produce in the course of a season’s work come from commissions involving everyday people. Of course, the artist sees so much more in a face than many of the rest of us. And that’s why Rossin, for instance, was selected to paint the official portraits of both President Bushes and a slew of other leading figures in both the public and private sectors.

Can one ever tire of bringing to canvas the essence of human character and personality? Perhaps that, like Paris — is something one grows tired of only when one is tired of life itself.

For portrait artist Rossin, that clearly is not the case.