A Portraitist, and His Images of the Famous, Come to Light
Faces of great men, and a grande dame or two, peek out from the linseed-scented clutter of Robert Seyffert’s studio in the South Bronx. Their portraits, rendered in luminous oils or bold strokes of charcoal, resonate with life, though they were made almost a century ago.
To Mr. Seyffert, they are a testament to their creator — his grandfather, Leopold Gould Seyffert — and the distinguished businessmen, philanthropists, politicians and artists who sat before him for portraits that graced boardrooms and mansions from New York to Newport, R.I., and beyond.
But today, the paintings are as likely to be found in basements and storage rooms, the victims of faded memories and changing tastes.
Formal oils that once lined company hallways went the way of the three-martini lunch, replaced by photographic portraits that take up less space and smack less of corporate excess. And though the names of many Seyffert subjects — Mellon, Taft, Lindbergh, Frick — are part of American history, that has not always guaranteed the images a place in homes or galleries.
A Baltimore bank that lent Robert Seyffert a portrait of its founder for a retrospective told him he could keep it. No one seems to know what became of a portrait of Elizabeth Arden, the cosmetics company founder.
Mr. Seyffert, 57, is out to change all that. He has spent the last few years tracking down the paintings and the descendants of his grandfather’s many sitters to enlighten them about the artist, who is considered one of the best American commercial portraitists of the early 20th century....
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To Mr. Seyffert, they are a testament to their creator — his grandfather, Leopold Gould Seyffert — and the distinguished businessmen, philanthropists, politicians and artists who sat before him for portraits that graced boardrooms and mansions from New York to Newport, R.I., and beyond.
But today, the paintings are as likely to be found in basements and storage rooms, the victims of faded memories and changing tastes.
Formal oils that once lined company hallways went the way of the three-martini lunch, replaced by photographic portraits that take up less space and smack less of corporate excess. And though the names of many Seyffert subjects — Mellon, Taft, Lindbergh, Frick — are part of American history, that has not always guaranteed the images a place in homes or galleries.
A Baltimore bank that lent Robert Seyffert a portrait of its founder for a retrospective told him he could keep it. No one seems to know what became of a portrait of Elizabeth Arden, the cosmetics company founder.
Mr. Seyffert, 57, is out to change all that. He has spent the last few years tracking down the paintings and the descendants of his grandfather’s many sitters to enlighten them about the artist, who is considered one of the best American commercial portraitists of the early 20th century....