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Year of production : 2010

Director(s) : Conor HORGAN
Producer(s) : Martha O'NEILL (Wildfire Films)

The making of a portrait is an intimate experience, which can
be a pleasurable event for both parties or one that's fraught with
difficulties – either way, to paint someone’s picture is a great way
of really getting to know them.
In a world where anyone can make a realistic likeness
on their phone, the importance of the painted portrait
remains: as an emblem of power and prestige, as a political
act and ultimately as a memorial.
These themes and others are explored through the work of three of
Ireland’s most notable portrait painters. James Hanley’s meticulously
crafted paintings of luminaries such as Bertie Ahern and former
Olympian Ronnie Delany have led him to be called “the unofficial
court painter of the Irish Establishment”. Mick O’Dea is a natural
painter who has made thousands of portraits, from street pictures to
commissioned sittings, over the course of his thirty –year
career. Brian Maguire paints with an intense energy, completing
a telling picture in a matter of hours. He works with people
from many parts of society, such as prisoners and the homeless, who would
not usually be seen on a gallery wall.
Each artist is seen creating new work and showing some of their best
portraits, and each of them is a case study in how the human face is an
endlessly fascinating inspiration for great art.