"The most important portraits to me are the ones of people who have enriched my own thinking or awareness. Areas of philosophy, religion, psychological perspectives, poetry, music, art history, women's roles and the inner life are important issues for me - and all have been nurtured by these people whom I have met through portraiture." - Victoria Crowe. Victoria Crowe is one of Britain's most vital and original figurative painters. Here, Duncan Macmillan explores the exceptional skill of this remarkable artist's portraits and Victoria Crowe, herself, contributes many insightful accounts of her own thoughts and perceptions as each work developed. This book also tells Crowe's own story - both professional and personal - through her art. She has developed an approach to portraiture that seeks to do more than record the outward appearance of a person: she aims to represent something of the inner life. With 80 illustrations, the portraits include the artist's family, composer Ronald Stevenson, pioneer medical scientist Dame Janet Vaughan, poet Kathleen Raine, actor Graham Crowden, psychiatrist Professor Sir Peter Higgs and many others.