Portrait of Jim French

The portrait of Jim was commissioned to Adrian Gottlieb during his earlier years as a portrait painter. Gottlieb had already moved to LA after having finished his painting studies in Florence and completed this portrait at the home of Jim French in 2004. Jim French is a photographer and Gottlieb remembers his dry sense of humor that they both enjoyed during his sittings. At one time Jim had requested to listen to Leonard Bernstein during a session, only the artist initially forgot to push the play button before beginning his work. After a minute or two, Mr French observed, “This is one of Bernstein’s quieter pieces.“ The method that Gottlieb employed for this portrait is known as “direct painting” where the painting is created by carefully observing and interpreting both the likeness and colors of the subject at the very start of the painting. Its character often presents as bold selections of color, strong decisive brush strokes and a meaty, fleshy surface appearance of paint.