Siegfried Woldhek is a well known Dutch artist and illustrator. His work has been published in many newspapers and magazines since 1976. This year he was commissioned to draw portraits of all the TED2011 speakers for the program guide.
Portrait of Bobby McFerrin by Siegfried Woldhek
Q) How did this unique commission come about?
A) It started with the TEDxAmsterdam event in 2009. Which I enjoyed so much that I wrote Chris Anderson a little note about it and offered my assistance with a future TED initiative. He promptly wrote back, “Why not draw all the speakers of TED2011 LA!”
Q) What is it like drawing 52 portraits of people you haven’t met?
A) I’m used to drawing people I have never met before from pictures, I’ve been doing that for many years. The challenge in this case was to draw 52 faces in a very short period and make sure the portraits are ready in time for print. Not all the names were official when I started, and the names kept changing, but the deadline did not…
Portrait of Jones & Kohler by Siegfried Woldhek
Q) Did you get full artistic freedom or were there some restrictions?
A) This was my most restricted commissioned work in 35 years. Not being able to use the background to bring out the face or to add details. Making the portraits lifelike and lively – not just a boring gallery of smiling faces, yet all the faces had to be in the same style. These are things I am not used to doing since I usually employ the background a great deal and often adapt my style to the subject. But one needs restrictions in order to create. Too much freedom is emptiness.
Q) Some of the 52 strikingly portrayed speakers are accompanied by props, but most are not. How did that evolve?
A) I got the names and in some cases the subject they would be talking about. I did online research, in particular on YouTube, and if it was possible, I worked that into the picture. In certain cases, like those of TED2011 curator Bill Gates, the instructions were: a portrait without props, just Bill.
Q) Have you received any reactions from the speakers on their portraits?
A) The speakers were very enthusiastic about the portraits. And I also got positive feedback from the audience. They liked the fact that the portraits delivered the subject and the mood or the energy of the speaker. Since I rarely get feedback from people I have depicted in a newspaper it was quite nice to get a direct reaction this time.
Portrait of Bill Gates by Siegfried Woldhek
Further reading:
You might recall Siegfried Woldhek from his TEDTalk back in 2008: Siegfried Woldhek shows how he found the true face of Leonardo. More on this subject in the second part of this Follow Up to be published soon on TEDxAmsterdam.com.
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