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Sarah Thien is a portrait and still life artist specialising in oil and charcoal. She is inspired by people and their richly varied personalities and experiences and tries to capture that essence in her paintings to bring life to her portraits. Her Still Lifes are inspired by the beauty of the old Dutch and Belgian masters, and she draws on her love of old movies and cinematography to tell stories and create interesting compositions.
Sarah leads a young people's workshop during her residency
Sarah Thien and Head Curator Dr Emily Burns on a tour of Pre-Raphaelite Treasures
During Sarah’s residency, she responded to the Treasures from the Ashmolean exhibition. It was a pleasure to be surrounded by so many beautiful drawings and works of art. The portraits were a special favourite subject. However, she found herself drawn to the work Two Acolytes Censing, Pentecost, 1863 by Simeon Solomon (1840-1905). She especially liked the expressions on the faces of the altar boys and the closeness and intimacy of the sitters. Almost as if they were complicit to a secret as well as a lovely innocence in the expression of the subjects.
Through her research into the piece and the artist. Sarah discovered that the artist had to hide his homosexuality. He led a secret life but was eventually exposed for his homosexuality and incarcerated. Sadly, after his incarceration, his career never recovered, and he ended up destitute and in a workhouse.
The duality of his life reminded Sarah how despite the time, this duality still continues and relates present time and social pressure, in particular with social media. She drew a parallel between Solomon and the struggle of young adults with social media. Today young people feel the need to project a perfect life, a facade. Pressure from viewers to keep up with unrealistic expectations. This creates a toxic loop in which the viewer feels the need to match the appearance of the portrayed posts by generating even more disingenuous material.
Simeon Solomon, Two Acolytes Censing, Pentecost, 1863
Sarah Thien, Portrait of a Young Person, 2022
During her residency, Sarah had the pleasure of hosting a series of portraiture drawing workshops. The workshops focused on the relevance of facial anatomy in helping to portray facial features, and realistic portraiture. Each session focused on a particular part of the face. As well as exploring different tips, tricks, and techniques to create a realistic portraits in charcoal. Each session focused on a particular part of the face.
Sarah Thien's charcoal portrait workshop