introducing the self portrait

13
Self-Portrait

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Used for introducing a teaching unit on Self Portrait with my Year 9 & 10 students. Has produced some amazing conversations with students!

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Page 1: Introducing the Self Portrait

Self-Portrait

Page 2: Introducing the Self Portrait

Why do artists make self portraits?

Page 3: Introducing the Self Portrait

These are all self portraits of the same person:

as a child,

as a woman,

and

as a man…

Say what?!

Page 4: Introducing the Self Portrait

Meet ‘Angry Man’!What do you notice first about this image?

Why would the female artist make a picture of themself as a man and not a woman?

Why is he screaming?

It’s not very flattering, is it? Does that matter?

Page 5: Introducing the Self Portrait

Angry Man is a stencil.

The image is about:

•Gender stereotypes: and how men are seen as more aggressive and confrontational

•How all people have traits that could be described as feminine or masculine.

•How we all need a voice, but sometimes there are no words for how we feel.

Page 6: Introducing the Self Portrait

Pablo Picasso

Self portrait 1901

Self portrait 1907

Compare these two self portraits. What is the first thing you notice in each one?What are the main differences?Any similarities?

Page 7: Introducing the Self Portrait

Picasso was living in Paris, far from family and home. He was unrecognized, unappreciated and living in extreme poverty.

This work was painted after the suicide of one of Picasso’s close friends,and marked the beginning of what is called his “Blue Period” (1901-1904). His face is deathly white, and he looks a lot older than he was. He has painted himself the way he felt - lonely, isolated and miserable.

The mood of a painting can be strongly influenced by its colours. Blue was chosen deliberately to intensify the melancholy and hopelessness of the figures depicted.

This later portrait is almost childlike - the warm colours give it life and energy, and the lines are bold and confident. Even though this is a later painting, the subject looks younger. We can tell his life has improved.

At this time,Picasso had an interest in old African masks, and the face in this portrait looks almost mask-like. The angular shapes show the direction the artist was moving in - towards cubism and abstraction.

Page 8: Introducing the Self Portrait

What do you notice first?What is she wearing?What is the portrait on her forehead?Do the lines remind you of anything?What can we discover about the artist from her portrait?

Page 9: Introducing the Self Portrait

Frida Kahlo was the daughter of a Mexican-Indian mother and a German father. At age 6, she was stricken with polio, which caused her right leg to shrivel (something she later hid beneath her long Mexican dresses).

When she was 18, she was involved in a serious bus accident which left her with a broken spinal column, collarbone, ribs, pelvis, and 11 fractures in her right leg. In addition her right foot was dislocated and crushed, and her shoulder was out of joint. For a month at a time, Frida was forced to stay flat on her back, encased in a plaster cast.

Frida's recovery was miraculous, and she regained her ability to walk. However, she lived with chronic pain her whole life.

She married a famous Mexican painter called Diego Rivera. He was more than 20 years older than Frida, and a notorious womaniser. Their relationship was stormy - they divorced then got re-married. The portrait on her forehead is of Diego - she cannot get him off her mind. He is permanent as a tattoo perhaps. She began the painting the year they divorced.

Her outfit is a traditional tehuana wedding dress. The Tehuana were the indigenous Indians of the region and part of Frida’s whakapapa that she related strongly too. Diego encouraged her to to wear traditional clothing - she is showing pride in her Indian roots and also painting herself in clothing her husband admired.

The lines coming from her hair look like spiders webs - perhaps to trap her prey (Diego).

Frida had a strong black eyebrows - but rather than hide them, she made a feature of them and they became her most famous trade mark: the world’s most famous monobrow!

Frida Kahlo, 1943

Diego on My Mind (Frida as Tehuana)

Page 10: Introducing the Self Portrait

SILENTLY! Come up with an adjective for how this painting makes you feel

What colours has the artist used?

How do you think the artist was feeling when he painted this?

Do you think it is a very good painting? Is he a very good artist?

Page 11: Introducing the Self Portrait

Francis Bacon, Self portrait 1971

Francis Bacon is one Britain’s most famous painters. He wasn’t interested in painting what he saw in the mirror - he painted what he FELT on the inside.

The colours are dark and brooding. The artist has used a lot of blacks and greys, and paired complementary colours (blue and orange; purple and yellow, red and green) on the face - this makes the work more disturbing/energetic than analogous colours would. It creates tension and disharmony.

His eyes are too big - the sockets are huge! The nose is all buckled and the mouth is half missing. It looks like half his face is collapsing.

Bacon’s alcoholic lover died tragically the year this was painted. The artist is showing his inner turmoil and anxiety. The black background highlights his isolation and feelings of aloneness.

Page 12: Introducing the Self Portrait

Compare these two paintings by Rita Angus:

What things are similar?What differences can you see?Can you see any symbols?

Why would Rita have called herself “Rutu” in the later painting?

What do you think she is trying to say about herself in each work?

Self portrait, 1937 Self portrait/“Rutu”, 1951

Page 13: Introducing the Self Portrait

Now think about your portrait. You can choose what parts of yourself you want to show.You might want to think about:

The angle and direction - which way are you looking?Where will you be on the page?Symbols?Background? Props?Exaggeration?

What kind of MOOD do you want to portray?

Ms Duncan, 2009 “Self-Portrait as Angry Man”