Word: portrait
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...their full potential, resulting in a certain degree of dramatic sag. Without strong characterizations, the plot founders, and the focal trio is all too easily eclipsed by the bombastic military hullabaloo around them. The biggest problem is that Li Xuejian, for better or worse, gives a truly confused portrait of the emperor, alternating between unabashed cruelty and childish buffoonery. His emperor is conflicted and multifaceted, for sure --but lacking the visible development from ambitious commoner to dangerously monomaniacal ruler, he also lacks the necessary pathos to be anything more than a caricature. Zhang Fengyi fares better as the sympathetic Jing...
...taste changed and developed; in due course he would acquire a number of Cezannes, including the mighty Self-Portrait of 1878-80, solid as a Provencal mountain, which he perceived to be a sort of midpoint between El Greco and Picasso. In the same way, his early dislike of Matisse didn't stop him from eventually buying one of the greatest and harshest of all Matisses, the Studio, Quai St.-Michel...
...portrait you gave us of republican presidential candidate John McCain is of a man fully alive [CAMPAIGN 2000, Dec. 13]. His heroic military past is astonishing. McCain is at times a statesman and crusader and at others a family man, raconteur or stand-up comic. His mixture of humanity, honor and humor is unique to the present political scene. He wins you over with his personality and his message. OLIVER HARPER Phoenix, Ariz...