Portrait Art - Capturing the Human Canvas

Art Wolfe captures the human canvas.

- Suzanne Driscoll

TO SAY THAT ART WOLFE is not your typical portrait photographer is quite the understatement. With a career spanning 40 years, Wolfe brings his travels from every corner of the earth to create stunning portraits in his Human Canvas collection, honoring the traditions of Ethiopian tribal culture.

The son of commercial artists, Wolfe majored in fine arts at the University of Washington. He believes his training in the arts has a “100 percent influence” on his work. The Human Canvas draws from a variety of Wolfe’s books on camouflage and tribes that celebrate creativity in remote villages. Other influences include Keith Haring’s work as well as Indonesian batiks. “With my training in art I definitely have the ability to pick up a brush with confidence,” he says. “The Human Canvas is far less about photography than a conceptual idea of a ‘creation.’”