Portraiture isn' t whitewashing things. Also a good portrait should not limit itself to reproducing the outer shell of a person, but should captue the personality, with its strengths and weaknesses of character - as "a window to the soul". Face and hands must show the willpower, determination, openness, wisdom and mental state, as well as traits such as cheerfulness, charm, innocence, fragility, temperament and passion. The same prerequisites are necessary for a nude if it is to succeed.
The power of Russian school of portraiture comes from its insistence of painting spontaneously and directly from the model without using secondary sources like photography. Through daring colour relations, energetic modelling of form, painterly application and direct brushwork the artists find the technical means of expressing personal issues.