Looking Beyond the Technical

Demonstration by Gwenneth Barth

American-born Swiss international artist Gwenneth Barth is a Signature Member of the American Society of Portrait Artists, a Master Pastelist with the 150-year-old Société des Pastellistes de France, and special guest and lecturer of the Portrait Society of Canada. Her work has been exhibited in Geneva, Gstaad, New York and Paris.

As a guest of honour at the Salon National du Pastel in Paris as well as the Festival International du Pastel in Limoges 2003, her work was featured on the official posters for both events.

Gwenneth has lived and worked in the Geneva area most of her life, having moved there when she was a child. After deciding against a career as a classical pianist, she attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and graduated from Geneva´s Ecole des Arts Décoratifs.

Gwenneth´s fascination for traditional painting has led her to study in depth the ancient techniques and methods of the old masters, and, with the encouragement of the American master Joseph Bowler, portraiture became her main focus. She likes to think of her work as creating heirlooms.

With her work in collections world-wide, from the U.S.A. and Scandinavia to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Gwenneth´s client list includes leaders of industry, government and diplomacy. Among her more well-known clients are the Sultan of Brunei and his wife, and the entire family of former Saudi Oil Minister Sheik Yamani. International Artists magazine devoted an article to Gwenneth´s work, and she teaches portrait workshops in Geneva and master classes with the French Pastel Society in Paris.

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