Sizing up a sitter is a way of life for Artist Rene' Bouche'. As one of America's top portrait painters, he spends much of his time scrutinizing aspects and attitudes of the "significant comtemporaries" who besiege him with commissions. For portrait painters are as much in demand today as they were in the peak period of the 17th Century when nobles and burghers kept the artist busy recording their images and, hopefully, endowing them with a bit of immortality.
Recently Bouche' turned his analytical ey on Tammy Grimes (left picture), saucy star of the Broadway musical The Unsinkable Moly Brown (LIFE, Dec. 5). Although she had been painted four times before, Tammy had been hankering after a Bouche' portrait for a long time. But since his work comes high (paintings range from $5,000 to $10,000, drawings from $1,000 to $1,500), she waited until her show was a hit and she could afford it. Then she called him up and Bouche', who tries to limit himself to 12 portraits a year, agreed to the sitting.
At first Tammy wanted a drawing. "With a few lines, Rene' can give the illusion of a person," she said. But in the course of the sitting she decided she wanted a painting- only no probing around in her psyche, she told him. Bouche', however, instinctively assumes a dual role of artist and judge. Sketching Tammy, he noted: "She's small, a little hunched, very good profile, wonderful legs...great determination, a little dash of sex, a big dash of theatricality..." The challenge was to merge these qualities into an effective whole. How he went about it, from start to finish, is shown on the following six pages.
Humoring the Sitter: a Useful art
Part of the art of portrait painting is humoring the sitter. This is easy for Bouche' when he feels "a simpatico tension, a rapport" with his subject. Some of the tension and rapport is recorded in the following description of two of his sessions with Tammy Grimes.
She arrived about 15 minutes late, took a look at the portrait and said, "Don't you think I should be smaller?" Then she climbed up on the stool and began to cough: "Darling, I've got tuberculosis." Bouche': "As long as you don't die before this is over," Tammy: "I think it's the turpentine." In a few minutes she asked, "Got any cake?" Bouche said no and tried to get her to sit still: "Let's see your hands, darling."
After a while Tammy went to look at the portrait. "Legs are too fat. I don't want to look fat." Bouche's soother her: "Don't worry, don't worry, DON'T WORRY." Back on the stool, Tammy looked carefully at her legs. "They're all swollen up, they're puffy!" Bouche' turned on some music and Tammy began to whistle. Then she got up and started eating a pear. Bouche' took the pair, took a bite and put it away from here. Tammy sat down again, then got up and wandered into the bedroom. Bouche' called: "Why are you wandering around, sweetie-poo?" Tammy came back and looked at the picture. "My legs should be longer." "Yes, yes," Bouche' said, "sticking out of the canvas." He pushed the easel away and told Tammy she could go.
At the next sitting, Tammy was despondent, because she had lost a ring. "I'm always losing things, she moaned. "You should be spanked," said Bouche'. He turned on the radio to a violin concerto, then asked her to pose and to unbutton her jacket. "One more button, you have such beautiful skin." Still moping, Tammy announced: "I want to go home." Bouche': "You can't." Tammy: "I can." Bouche': "Okay." He went on working. Tammy: "How much longer? Bouche': "Darling, do you want anything to eat? Candy, brandy?" He gave her a sandwich and a glass of milk. "Come on now, sweetie." Tammy reluctantly resumed her pose. Bouche' flattered her about her part in the musical and she was quiet. Then: "Put on something jazzy, rock 'n' roll," Bouche' ignored the request and Tammy began to kick her legs. "These are the best legs in New York, in case you didn''t know." Bouche': "Easily. Now, legs down." Tammy: Are you mad with me?" Bouche': I don't have time." Tammy cussed in French. "I have a good accent, don't I?" She began to recite loudly, first some lines from a play, then a list of French restaurants. Soon she got up and looked at the picture. "Rene', you're taking it all out!" Bouche': "Most painting is taking it out." Tammy: "The cushion should be more orangey." Bouche': "No suggestions, please." Tammy: "My legs are too short." Bouche went on working. Tammy: "Let me go home and die." Bouche' murmured something about doing the face. Tammy implored: "Please, not the face, please." So Bouche' dismissed her. She put on her coat, pushed up the collar and disappeared.
After three more catch-as-can sittings, Bouche' finished the painting and Tammy installed it in her home, commenting that it reflects Bouche' and 'he is one of the most civilized men in New York."

The article is accompanied by a full page color photo of Tammy with her head tilted back and looking up, while Bouche' stands solemnly in the background with arms crossed at his waist- GETTING AN ANGLE on Tammy Grimes, Rene' Bouche' studies profile view. He decided post was "too extravagant." In the background is part of Bouche's portrait of seven modern artists in which Dorthea Tanning and Marcel Duchamp are visible. Photographed for LIFE by DMITRI KESSEL; Two pages of color photos of many sketches of Tammy- PICKING JUST THE RIGHT POSE- More than a dozen sketches were produced by Bouche' before he began to work on the painting. At the first sitting he did a series of pencil drawings, catching Tammy in characteristically piquant poses. Then, with ink and wash, he sketched her in a variety of attitudes and clothes. Tammy preferred a glamorous version (right photo). Bouche' insisted the seated pose was more suitable. He won.; Color photos of Tammy posing for Bouche'- BEGINNING THE CANVAS, Bouche' sketches with charcoal. He indicated features of Tammy's face but chiefly concerns himself with the angle of her head and placement of the figure in the narrow rectangular shape. Then he rubs off charcoal, leaving only a faint trace of the drawing. STARTING TO PAINT, Bouche' uses black to sketch figure again. Midway, he paues to study positions for Tammy's hands, then suggest she raise her skirt a little. During these early stages, he groans and pounces as he works. "I want to be spontaneous, like a bullfighter." SOOTHING HIS SITTER during third session, Bouche' cajoles Tammy into staying still. Before she arrived he painted in broad areas of color. "The ochre tones at the bottom balance the color of her hair. As for the red- maybe subconsciously I was thinking of the red plush seat of the theater." PAINTING THE TOP of the canvas, Bouche' brushes in blue around the head. To catch Tammy's defiant air- "the face in the theater"- he shifted the head from three-quarter view to a profile. He also sketched in three strands of pearls, then painted them out. STUDYING THE DESIGN, Bouche' turns the canvas upside down so he can observe the abstract patterns of the composition without being distracted by realistic effects. Tammy bobs up with a gesture and a suggestion that he alter the legs to make them glamorously long. MOUTH is outlined in black by Bouche' during the fourth sitting. When working on small, detailed areas like the face, he wears black plastic "pinhole" glasses which sut out light and enable him to see sharply, close up and afar. In the next sitting he wiped out the face and started over. EYES are given heavy black lashed during the sixth and final sitting. The nose and the eeyes were the most troublesome features. They were rubbed out and repainted several times. To see the color relationships of the features, Bouche' whitened the background around the face. SKIRT is enlivened with a few strokes of black to indicate folds. Bouche' lowered the skirt a trifle, then he added some warm flesh tones to the hands and painted in the peridot ring. "The tiny green accent of the ring," says Bouche,' is like a little bit of pepper." FINISHED PORTRAIT (above and opposite) reveals the model's pert, diminuitive look, the artist's sketchy, spontaneous style. As for the likeness- says Bouche.' "I don't try to copy a face"; says Tammy, "You never see yourself, not even in a mirror."