Louise Hearman’s paintings display her command of light and shadow, and often express a sense of transience. In her portrait of violinist, conductor and composer Richard Tognetti AO (b. 1965), her subject appears to float in an abstract field of colour. As Hearman noted of the portrait: ‘How do you condense a brilliant frenetic being, who unfolds in time, into a single image that exists in the present? Richard is a field of energy and I have tried to nail down particles that look like they belong to him.’ Tognetti trained with famed violinists William Primrose and Alice Waten in Australia before undertaking further studies with Igor Ozim at the Bern Conservatory in Switzerland, where he was awarded the Tschumi Prize for outstanding graduate soloist. He returned home in 1989 to lead the Australian Chamber Orchestra and was appointed the Artistic Director and Lead Violin later that year. As director or soloist, Tognetti has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, and has co-composed scores for feature films, notably Peter Weir’s 2003 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (for which he also coached Russell Crowe for his onscreen violin playing).
Commissioned with funds provided by Peter Weiss AO 2018
© Louise Hearman
Peter Weiss AO (1 portrait supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
18 October 2018
Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.
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