WSJ’s illustrator, Ismael Roldan, at work
The excitement that art professionals seem to feel feel about getting their inexpertly photographed portraits published on CultureGrrl is only exceeded by the thrill of getting immortalized by one of the Wall Street Journal‘s illustrious illustrators. But some of those likenesses have been truer than others.
The ones that, to my eye, have always uncannily captured not only the features but also the essence of their subjects were created by Ismael Roldan, 45, whose untimely death was reported today on the WSJ’s “Leisure & Arts” page.
They were so good that the Clark Art Institute’s director, Michael Conforti, whose eye is better than mine, asked for Roldan’s original after my Cultural Conversation with him appeared in the paper. (I’m not sure whether he got it.)
Who wouldn’t like this?
Michael Conforti’s WSJ Portrait, by Ismael Roldan