Portraits of people
The Fisherman
A charcoal portrait of a retired trawlerman, drawn on the quayside one Saturday while he told stories about the harbour.
- Medium
- Charcoal
- Surface
- Fabriano paper
- Size
- 30 × 42 cm
- Year
- 2025
- Time
- 50 minutes, live at the Waterfront
- Made
- Live at the V&A Waterfront
- Subject
- Portraits of people
He stopped to look at the board of finished portraits, said he had worked these docks for forty years, and sat down before I had finished asking. Charcoal was the obvious choice: every crease across his forehead was pushed and lifted with a kneaded eraser while the wind kept trying to take the paper.
This is a good example of what a detailed live sitting looks like. Fifty minutes, one sheet of A3, and he walked off with it under his arm.