Self Portraits
History, Characteristics of Self-Portrait
Paintings in Western Art.
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Self Portraits
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Self-Portrait (1889) by Van Gogh. |
Self-Portrait Paintings (c.1400 BCE - present)Contents • Introduction Related Articles on Portraiture - Greatest
Portrait Paintings (1400-1970) |
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Other Examples Studies for a Self Portrait (1980). Self-Portrait (1907) by Picasso, Self Portrait with Cat & Monkey (1940) TOP PORTRAITISTS |
Self-portraiture is a long established form of portrait art, dating from Ancient Egypt. Since then, many of the Old Masters as well as modern artists have reproduced their own image in a variety of media, for a variety of artistic, commercial and self-promotional motives. Indeed, the history of art has witnessed several examples of artists executing repetitive self-portraits, sometimes for emotional reasons. Recent examples of this compulsive self-portrait painting include works by the Post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90), the German Expressionist draughtsman and short-lived prodigy Egon Schiele (1890-1918), and the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-54). NOTE: The two most expensive self-portraits sold at auction are: Portrait of the Artist Without a Beard (1889) by Van Gogh, sold at Christie's in 1998 for $71.5 million; and Six Self Portraits (1986) by Andy Warhol, sold at Sotheby's New York in 2014 for $26.7 million. See also Andy Warhol's Pop Art of the 60s. |
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Curators have found few remains of self-portraits completed during Antiquity, in Ancient Greek, Egyptian or Roman art. This is partly because only a tiny number of paintings have survived, and partly due to a lack of evidence concerning the individual artists involved. Sculpture, being more durable than wall or panel paintings, has survived in greater numbers. Early self-portraits sculpted in stone include one dating from 1365 BCE by Bak, the head sculptor of the controversial Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Bak also executed the portrait of Pharaoh Akhenaten (c.1364 BCE) and may be responsible for the bust of Nefertiti (c.1350 BCE). Records also suggest that the Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias inserted a likeness of himself in the frieze "Battle of the Amazons" at the Parthenon in Athens. Flemish and German Renaissance The earliest surviving self-portraits after Antiquity are believed to be those by the Flemish Northern Renaissance painter Jan Van Eyck (1390-1441) (Man in a Red Turban, 1433) and by Jean Fouquet (1420-1481) (Self-Portrait miniature, c.1450) painter to the French king. Van Eyck also painted The Arnolfini Portrait (1434), depicting a married couple. The bridegroom is supposedly modelled on himself. During the German Renaissance, the Nuremberg painter and printmaker Albrecht Durer was also a prolific self-portraitist, completing more than twelve paintings and drawings of himself, in silverpoint, gouache, oils and woodcut. See for instance, Self Portrait with Fur Collar (1500, Alte Pinakothek, Munich). Italian
Renaissance |
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Baroque/Rococo/Neo-Classical (1600-1800) With the advent of easel-painting and the widespread use of oils on canvas, portraiture of all kinds - including those of family, friends, groups and oneself - became more commonplace. As well as the Mannerist artist El Greco, later self-portraitists of the Baroque era included the Spanish masters Velazquez, and Zurbaran, the French academic painter Nicolas Poussin, the Flemish masters Rubens (who also painted his wife many times and his family) and Anthony Van Dyck, and the prolific Dutch genius Rembrandt - who executed over 40 self-portraits, many used for training pupils and as the basis for characters in his larger works. See also: Baroque Portraits (1600-1700). A particularly interesting work is the Triple Self-Portrait (c.1646), by Johannes Gumpp, as is Self-Portrait (1641, National Gallery, London) by Salvator Rosa (1615-73), the Byronesque Italian. Eighteenth century self-portraiture includes Self-Portrait (1775, Hermitage, St Petersburg) by German court portraitist Mengs (1728-79); Self-Portrait Torn Between Music and Painting (1792, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow) by Swiss artist Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807); and Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat (1782, National Gallery, London) by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun (1755-1842). For more, please see: Rococo & Neoclassical Portraits (c.1760-1850). Nineteenth Century Self Portraits Almost all later artists painted themselves either individually or in groups. Self portraits from the 19th century include those by Francisco Goya (1800), Eugene Delacroix (1837), James McNeill Whistler (1872), Edouard Manet (1879), Paul Cezanne (1881), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1883), and Edouard Vuillard (1889), among many others. One of the most creative self-portraits was The Artist's Studio (1855) by the French Realist Gustave Courbet. Full of allegorical narrative, this masterpiece - his personal manifesto of Realism - depicts the artist at work surrounded by his 'friends' (to the right) and his enemies (to the left). See also the pioneer female photographic portraitist Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79). Another great self portraitist of the 19th century was Vincent Van Gogh, whose 37 portraits between 1886 and 1889 chart his emotional and physical decline. See also: 19th Century Portraits (1800-1900). Twentieth Century Self Portraits 20th Century examples include stylistic self-portraits by Henri Matisse (1906), John Singer Sargent (1907), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1910), Marc Chagall (1910), Sir William Orpen (1910), Paul Klee (1922) and Max Beckmann, while the neurotic Viennese artist Egon Schiele - consumed by his animalistic view of man - executed numerous shocking self portraits (eg. Eros, 1911; or the grisly Nude, 1910). Edvard Munch painted himself regularly during his life in an attempt to depict the ill treatment he suffered at the hands of Fate (and women). The more restrained, less-neurotic German Impressionist painter Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) painted himself once a year on his bithday. His most famous self-portrait is probably Self-Portrait with Skeleton (1896, Stadtische Galerie, Lenbachhaus). Likewise, Frida Kahlo (1907-54), the famous Mexican artist crippled in a car accident, completed more than 50 self portraits depicting her personal torment. The Spanish artist Pablo Picasso painted a wide range of autiobiographical portraits depicting himself at various stages of his artistic career. See also: Portraits by Picasso (1900-44). Contemporary self portraiture has developed across all media. It encompasses Pop Art portraits by Andy Warhol, surrealistic portraits in oils by Francis Bacon (1909-1992); large-scale neck-up self-portraits in the photorealism style by the paralyzed American artist Chuck Close (b.1940) - who builds up his paintings in small squares from photographs - as well as blurred works by the German artist Gerhard Richter (b.1932); and mixed-media self-portraits by the celebrated UK narcissistic couple Gilbert and George [Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore] (b.1943 and 1942). See also: 20th Century Portrait Artists. The new genre of fine art photography - which has largely replaced portrait painting - has been used for self-portraiture by some of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. Perhaps the most prolific creator of photographic self-portraits is Cindy Sherman (b.1954), whose surrealistic shots span several series, including her "Untitled Film Stills" (1977-80), whose 69 black and white photos were purchased by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for an estimated $1 million. For other portrait photographers, see: Cecil Beaton (1904-80), Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), Diane Arbus (1923-71), David Bailey (b.1938) and Annie Leibovitz (b.1949). Arguably the greatest museum dedicated exclusively to portraiture is the National Portrait Gallery in London, which contains some 200,000 portraits, of which several thousand are self-portraits. Two impressive assemblies of self portraits are located in Florence and in Ireland. The prestigious Florentine art museum, the Uffizi Gallery, houses an outstanding collection originally assembled by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici in the latter half of the seventeenth century. It includes more than 200 portraits, featuring works by Pietro da Cortona, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, and Marc Chagall. In Ireland, the National Self Portrait Collection, consisting of over 400 self-portraits by native or resident Irish artists, is on permanent display at the University of Limerick. The collection spans several centuries and includes fine art portraiture in many different media, from watercolour, gouache, ink, acrylics, tempera, ink-and-wash, and oils, to sculpted compositions in bronze, stone, steel and numerous combinations of mixed-media. Another fine collection is located in Washington's National Portrait Gallery. |
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