We see this world through our eyes. In the end, we learn about this world inside of ourselves. How we see our inner I and how people see us from outside it is also two different sides. Why an artist paint themselves? Why Rembrandt had around one hundred self-portraits, Van Gogh’s also numerous of them?! Is there something they want to tell us through these portraits… is it a part of artistic expression or it is an easy model to draw?
When I needed to paint myself I was thinking about two moments what can I say in one word about myself which can describe me good and what is special in my face/personality?
Each of the following artist I selected for personal self analyzes. All of them are a story – life story which they put on the canvas or in a different medium and by technical elements reveal the image of Self-portraiture. The analysis follows historical dating.
Dürer's self-portrait at 28 (1500) [Painting] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer#/media/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_1500_self-portrait_(High_resolution_and_detail).jpg (Accessed on 11.07.19)
Starting an analysis with Durer is not easy because this artist was an incredible provocateur of that time. Creating a portrait in the style and with the gestures of Christ, reading this portrait could cause resentment and censure. What did the author want to say here? What is he as great as Christ? That he has reached an incredible level of drawing and no limits to his skill?
Soft lines and tone, dark atmosphere and straight-ahead stare with an ambiguous gesture refer to the icons style painting. Only the angle of the gaze is not going on us as an opposite to the holy depiction.
Wikipedia, Self-portraits by Rembrandt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-portraits_by_Rembrandt (Accessed on 11.07.19)
Probably from such a number of portraits of one person are already considered as a lifelong television series. According to popular sources, a huge amount of work is associated with the incredible popularity of the author and the demand for such work. Thus, we see traditional market relations as an example of art business.
Working both on canvas and developing etching as one of the art trends, Rembrandt brought last method to a new artistic level. The portrait pose is mainly on the right side and without drawn hands, which explains the technical side of that time - there were no large mirrors. Often, portraits pay special attention to clothing and headgear. This indicates a temporary financial condition or mood of the artist. Excellent work with light and soft tone in the background creates a unique style of the artist.
If with the works of Rembrandt we can see emotions, a double portrait (with Saskia), then in the portraits of Van Gogh we will not find violent emotions on his face, but we can feel all the worries and the search from the technical part of the work.
Photo by Victor Morin, c. 1886, Quebec. Discovered in the early 1990s [Photography] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portraits_of_Vincent_van_Gogh#/media/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_photo_cropped.jpg (Accessed on 11.07.19)
Building rhythmic patterns of thickly painted strokes on his canvases: dots, short stripes, parallel marks lined up straight, radiating from a point, or flowing across the canvas, comma-shaped marks, swirly strokes, angled lines, and lots of cross-hatching, he conveys a nervous energy. By placing complementary colors (red-green, orange-blue, yellow-purple) right next to each other, he made the canvas seem to vibrate. (National Gallery of Art, Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits, online)
Compositionally, most often, a cropped portrait looks at the viewer. Hands were rarely depicted, perhaps again the main interest of the time for the artist was the light and how it changes on the whole face plane.
Stunning changes occur in portraits when the artist moves to Arlys. The color changes to a brighter and more emotional connotation becomes more apparent through the plot and technique of work. Perhaps here the psychological problems of the person in an extreme way affect the created work.
Here I miss the big period of Cubism, avant-garde and all the directions arising from here and turn immediately to the most interesting work for me.
A jagged horizontal-vertical mesh organizes the composition. The alignment of the edges of the cut, torn, and glued paper provides the grid, which has a physical, planar dimension. Not only does the paper structure the work architectonically, but it serves as a support for vigorously applied paint. The energy of handling and the uneven oval shapes separated by a black line in this early collage foreshadow the powerful facture and recurrent motifs of Motherwell’s later work. (Flint, online).
If you do not consider the figurative component of the work (where you can see the head, hands, eyes), the complex composition of materials and painting elements attracts the attention. The search for the portrait itself and the elements that the artist laid in this work, in my opinion, remain the most interesting.
It’s like Greenberg’s vision: - "But the ultimate values which the cultivated spectator derives from Picasso are derived at a second remove, as a result of reflection upon the immediate impression left by the plastic values” (Greenberg, 1961).
Robert Motherwell (1943), Personage (Autoportrait), Gouache, ink, and colored paper and Japanese paper collage on paperboard, 103.8 x 65.9 cm [Painting] At: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3045 (Accessed on 11.07.19)
Abstract, incomprehensible lines and spots, in my opinion, the greatest achievement of a person in the mark making process. The ability to organize an unlimited mass and give meaning to it contains the beginning of nature itself.
Hannah Wilke, S.O.S. Starification Object Series (Back), 1974. Gelatin silver print, (101.6 x 68.6 cm) [Photography] At: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/9640 (Accessed on 11.07.19)
This artist was close to me in the type of thinking. I have always realized that I can use external attractiveness and monopolize men. But on the other hand, the men looked at me as well as at a "sexually attractive object" or "a pretty picture without deep content." The question of male domination in Russia is particularly relevant than in a more economically developed Europe.
Wilke uses photography as an element of the glossy industry. The poses are provocative and seductive, they are like photo models from magazine covers. They are wanted, but they are also used as chewing gum, which then sticks to your shoo.
Someone should raise unpleasant and unpopular issues of society. When this happens according to the means of art, it acquires an extremely political coloring.
Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, early 1978, acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen, 40 x 40 inches, 101.6 x 101.6 cm. [Painting] At: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3045 (Accessed on 11.07.19)
I have already written a lot about Warhol, but in my opinion this is one of the most successful examples of using the right material for the right idea of that time. The idea of mass consumption. Working with silk-screen printing, the artist depicts himself through copying and multiplication. Photographing yourself from the point of view of a reporter, paparazzi. Here you can notice that the look of our time has rather changed to selfie, self-photography.
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1983) Self Portrait, oil, acrylic, oilstick, graphite and pen on paper collage on wood with metal attachments, in 2 parts, left panel 202.2 x 75.6 x 14 cm., right panel 245.7 x 86.4 x 5.1 cm. [Painting] At: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3045 (Accessed on 11.07.19)
Under the influence of “mind-expanding” substances, you can create something very expressive, but not every artist will consciously go for it. I love the expression and breakdown in the works of Basquiat.
Very biographical image of the artist. Coming from street art, he portrays himself on something like door panels. Collects and sticks together different materials in one composition. Likewise, a person builds himself throughout his life filling his consciousness with emotions, knowledge and any other nonsense. But in the end, we all decompose first to the state of bones, and then to dust.
David Hockney (2012) Self Portrait, No. 3 (1236) Courtesy the National Gallery of Victoria © David Hockney [Digital drawing] At: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/david-hockey-ipad-works-australia-742232/#/slideshow/742232-2/6 (Accessed on 11.07.19)
David Hockney went a long way in art and in my opinion remained committed to the classical tradition but with a modern approach. Using a computer and iPad, he depicts people, including himself, in very natural postures with the environment of ordinary household items.
While depicting himself in the everyday process, the artist does not seek to give a deep meaning to the process or emotional state; rather, he depicts the process itself and the understanding of this process for the artist. He portrays himself in full growth - it means attention is scattered, there is no focus on the face, for example, as it was with Van Gogh.
Wangechi Mutu, Ghouls On My Back Celebrate Murder (2003) Mixed media on mylar, 90 x 61 cm [College] At: https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/wangechi_mutu.htm (Accessed on 11.07.19)
Mutu’s collages explore the split nature of cultural identity, referencing colonial history, fashion and contemporary African politics.
In Untitled, Mutu’s surface uses these conflicting textures to draw a wide range of connotations: from glamour models, to dyed fabrics, diseased skin, and science fiction special effects. Her goddess-like figure becomes an embodiment of the disjointed facets of modern Africa, caught in the flux of Western preconception, internal turmoil, ancient tradition, and blossoming future. (Saatchigallery, online)
I could not describe it better;)
The artist from Kenya is very different in relation to the previously reviewed works. This work is similar in nature to the work of the Robert Motherwell. Abstract but assembled into a single whole, it forces one to look at the work, study the details, and then perceive separately the meaning and the emotions. Awkward, twisted posture, gesture - everything is annoying and troubling.
What seems to me important, the artist has managed to reflect her culture and tradition. During the period of mass globalization, we lose our roots and orientation in space itself. In art, it also does not pass unnoticed. Now it is difficult to learn from work - is it a Chinese artist or French. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I can assume that diversity provides an opportunity for development, and monotony is boring and not interesting.
Emin in the Insomnia Room takes a selfie of herself with selfies, article 6 February 2019 by Paul Carey-Kent [Photography] At: https://fadmagazine.com/2019/02/06/the-pleasures-of-traceys-traumas/ (Accessed on 11.07.19)
Provocation, honesty, rudeness, these synonyms come to mind when I perceive the work of Tracy Emin. Using his phone as an image creation tool, the artist captures moments that are not used to be talked about in the modern Internet social world. The poses clearly demonstrate that it was a selfie, and not a staged photo. She uses a tone composition in order to emphasize lantern jaws or circles under the eyes - rather, tone plays the role of building emotions, rather than volume in work as it was in an academic school.
What story begs here as a conclusion? Considering the previous experience of the artist and her work, I would say, as always, the search for the role of a woman in society and her problems.
As a conclusion - find yourself by means of current sources of expression.
Bibliography and references
1. National Gallery of Art, Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits, [online] At: https://www.nga.gov/education/teachers/lessons-activities/self-portraits/van-gogh.html (Accessed on 11.07.19)
2. The Guardian, The top 10 self-portraits in art [online] At: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2014/sep/04/the-top-10-self-portraits-in-art-lucian-freud-sherman-rembrandt (Accessed on 11.07.19)
3. Dexter Emma (2016) Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing, London, Phaidon Press Limited
4. Flint, Lucy, Robert Motherwell In: Guggenheim.org [online] At: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3045 (Accessed on 13.07.19)
5. Greenberg Clement, (1961, 1989) Art and Culture, Critical Essays, Avant-Garde and Kitsch. Boston, Beacon Press
6. Wilke, Hannah, The art story [online] At: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-wilke-hannah.htm (Accessed on 13.07.19)
7. Wangechi Mutu exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery In: Saatchi Gallery.com [online] At: https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/wangechi_mutu.htm (Accessed on 13.07.19)
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