For portrait paintings to be successful, you have to find a way to grab viewers’ attention.
Victoria Herrera Brings Portraits to Life
By Milène J. Fernández
On a stormy weekend in 2024, I sat with Victoria Herrera (b. 1964) in her big cozy studio, which spans the entire basement of her home in Montclair, New Jersey. Surrounded by paints and canvases, reference photographs, and inspiration images pinned all over the walls, she recalled her first experience of feeling confident and enjoying a specific activity — drawing.
As a child growing up in Panama, she also loved running around in the rainforest taking in the wonder of nature in all its intricate detail and grandeur. Everything there piqued her curiosity, and nothing was taken for granted. Now, as an adult, whenever Herrera visits Panama to see relatives, she makes sure to spend some time alone in that rainforest. “I feel such a connection with nature,” she explains. It is the foundation of everything she paints, and the original reason, she says, “I still practice observation a lot.”
Before she decided to become a painter, 35 years ago, Herrera wanted to be a photojournalist. She still admires photographers like W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, and Mary Ellen Marks. “I was so attracted to the idea of capturing that perfect instant that can tell a whole story,” she remembers. Although her parents particularly discouraged her from pursuing a career as a war photographer, she has been able to satisfy — through the painting of portraits — that early desire to capture people’s meaningful expressions, ones that serve as portals to their whole story. To achieve this goal, she studied full-time for four years at New York City’s Grand Central Atelier under its founder, Jacob Collins. “It was a rigorous and difficult training that required many sacrifices,” she notes, “but I would not exchange it for anything.”
Asked about her general approach to composition, Herrera replies: “For a painting to be successful, you have to find a way to grab viewers’ attention. And you must invite them to participate — to keep them interested in discovering what else is going on in the image.” She continues, “In 2006, when I painted my first botanical, I decided to arrest viewers with the canvas’s large size [72 x 72 inches] and with its lack of color. By using only neutral grays, I would let the viewer decide what color the flower could be.” That painting turned out to be “a showstopper,” so Herrera has been painting hibiscus flowers ever since. (“Metamorphosis” is illustrated below.) In a way, her botanicals are like portraits, and some collectors have noted they look like “angels or ballerinas.”
A Process That Works for Portrait Paintings
Although most portraitists prefer to have their sitters pose many times, clients don’t often have schedules that allow them to do this. Therefore, all of Herrera’s commissions have been developed from photographic references. In our busy world, this is an increasingly common situation, yet it is seldom discussed in the field of contemporary realism. Embracing this challenge, Herrera holds herself to a high standard.
“It’s important to connect with the ‘essence’ of the person I am painting,” she observes. That’s why she has many conversations with sitters, gathering abundant information through their storytelling and as many photographs as possible — to learn about their personality, traits, character, tastes, and even dreams. She is especially eager to learn what they want others to think or feel upon seeing the portrait.
Continue reading this article in Fine Art Connoisseur (March/April 2024)
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