Thomas Ruff- Book Stock

Thomas Ruff

'Portraits'

From 1981-1985 Ruff produced the project ‘Portraits’. He used 100 people that he knew (friends, family and people from the academy he worked at) and took pictures of them. Each image was of th

e same size and composite. He based the framing upon Bust Portraiture (This is from just below the shoulder; the bust, and includes up to the head). He states in his book, that he wanted them to be shot this way as he believes that “Photography only ever shows the surface of something anyway”. Every person that was used sat on the same stool, therefore, at the same height for each image. He also stated before they had their picture taken, that he wanted them to have a serious yet calm expression. This was to show no feeling like smiling or ‘flirting’ with the camera. This was to stop any emotion in the images at all. Models wore their own clothes that they felt comfortable which i suppose gave them their identity as everything else in the image seems to be recorded and pictured in a clinical and structured way. For the background he chose different coloured cards so that the images didn’t look too flat. He asked each person to choose the colour they wanted to use. He got this idea from a TV magazine in which a celebrity would be featured on a full p

age spread with a different background each week.

Throughout the whole project, there are two images of twins. Why has he shot these two people together? I understand that they look exactly the same, and maybe the images would also look the same, but surely this gives two people one identity? Are these two people only seen as one or do they have their own personalities?

Ruff finalists some of this images by putting them in a set of 4. This way, the viewer can see each person as individuals, but also see similarities between two people. This can depend on the clothing they chose to wear, how they did their hair and also the background colour they chose.

Looking at the images below, he has clearly chosen 4 people that i as

sume are quite different. The gentleman on the bottom right seems quite laid back and young. However, the woman next to him looks rather career driven and well presented.

This is just my opinion, other people would probably think something different? But what i like about this project is that the viewer is left to make their mind up about what job they have, where they

are from, the class status, are they a criminal, etc.

Book from Stockport College library.

'Thomas Ruff. 1979 to the Present'