Exploration of the Self

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Exploration of the Self

• Artists and their Self-Portraits

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The First Self-Portraits

• Are believed to be found in Egyptian Sculptures
• They were a signature hidden within a work of
  art created for a different purpose. Like a
  religious scene or a portrait for someone else
• We also see this in the Middle Ages and the
  Renaissance
• For example, architects would sometimes carve
  images of themselves in parts of their finished
  buildings

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The Wedding Portrait, 1434

• This is a wedding portrait of a young couple
• Jan van Eyck, the artist who painted it, is
  hidden in this painting (though we cant see
  him!)
• He has put a self-portrait of himself in the
  mirror behind the couple
• His inscription above the mirror reads "Johannes
  de eyck fuit hic" or "Jan van Eyck was here."
• This is a SIGNATURE self-portrait

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The Self-Portrait as a Projection of Self

• This is a self-portrait created purely for its
  own sake
• This kind of self-portrait is traced back to
  Northern Europe
• Durer seemed fascinated by his own image
• The self-portraits did not explore his inner self
  
• Instead they focused on what he looked like, his
  rising social status, promoting himself to others

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The Self-Portrait as Self Study

• Rembrandt was the first to study himself through
  art
• Sketched his face thousands of times during his
  lifetime
• 60 self-portraits that depict his history, an
  autobiographical story that of his life
• In the beginning, maybe he was the only model he
  had
• Later, the self-portraits became an outlet for
  feelings and ideas

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Van Goghs Self-Portraits

• Were also a self-study
• He was struggling for life, and perhaps searching
  for answers through his art
• He painted 22 self-portraits in the two years
  before he committed suicide

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Frida Kahlos

• story can be read through her 55 self-portraits
  - about 1/3 of all her work
• It is an exploration of her self, physically and
  mentally a self-study
• A kind of therapy to face the difficult events of
  her life
• Her leg crippled from polio, permanent injuries
  from a bus accident, abortions, and botched
  surgeries
• In life she wore flowing, flamboyant clothing
  which covered her deformities
• In her paintings, she came out of hiding
  revealing and comfortable with her true self

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The Self-Portrait as Fantasy

• Some artists just focused on their likeness, like
  van Gogh and Rembrandt
• Others staged a scene and put themselves into it
• Courbet created a fantasy where he is the central
  character
• Other people in the painting may represent parts
  of his life

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The Narrative Self-Portrait

• In the 1900s we see the first Abstract paintings
• First Picasso and later Chagall, used shapes,
  colors and patterns and their imaginations
  represent their inner selves
• They didnt really want to make it look like
  themselves.
• Instead it is about who they are inside
• This is Picassos Cubist self-portrait it is
  exaggerated and the features are not in the right
  places

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Chagall I and the Village

• Here Chagall creates symbolic fairy-tale of
  characters and color
• In the center are a man and woman, perhaps
  Chagall and his wife
• They are abstracted figures walking on a hillside
• The character does not really resemble Chagall,
  in fact, he did not even need to consult the
  mirror for inspiration
• The story he wanted to tell was deep inside him.

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The Metaphorical Self-Portrait

• These are self-portraits that dont show anything
  of the artist by Rothko and Pollack
• Can be difficult to even say they are
  self-portraits

• But they reveal the feelings of the artist
  through color, shape, texture in a different way
• Have been called autobiographical outpourings

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Conclusion Self-Portraits

• Can be carefully staged to show the audience only
  what the artist wishes to show about himself
• Or very revealing, displaying feelings of anguish
  and pain

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Self-Portraits have been used

• To test new techniques
• Make a signature mark
• Launch into self-study
• Remember the past
• As a way to release emotion

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Lastly,

• Whichever way artists choose to create their
  images in a self-portrait, they are forced to
  study who they are both physically and
  emotionally.

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Works Cited

• The Exploration of the Self What Artists Find
  When They Look in a Mirror
• By Jeanne Ivy
• http//www.research.umbc.edu/ivy/selfportrait/