The Self Portrait

Why are artists so fascinated with their own portrayal?

Cheap & Easy Model

• As model for yourself, you are always willing and available to sit. Self portraits, unlike commissioned works are unrestricted by patron restraints and therefore more free and investigative.

• The self portrait is the artist’s most intimate and personal legacy, and more public form of self promotion. Self portraits are often specific in intention, recording particular moments in the artist’s personal or professional life.

“I purposely bought a mirror good enough to enable me to work from my image in default of a model, because if I can manage to paint the coloring of my own head which is not to be done without some difficulty, I shall likewise be able to paint the heads of other

good souls, men and women.” - Van Gogh

Frida Kahlo created 200 paintings, drawings and sketches related to her life, physical and emotional pain and stormy relationship with Diego Rivera. 55 of her paintings were self

portraits. When asked why she painted so many self portraits, she replied: “Because I am often alone… because I am the subject I know best”

An internal and external study

• A self portrait is a good tool to study skull and facial structure. It also can serve as expressive subject when infused with emotion, mood and character.

“Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face or what’s behind the face?” - Pablo Picasso

Cindy Sherman (born: 1954) has explored the construction of contemporary identity and the nature of representation through her photography. Her

photographic work has been vastly influential in the contemporary art world

Sherman has been her own model for the past 30 years using make-up, wigs, wardrobe, prosthetics and props to create characters and tableaus.

A Self Portrait can reveal much about our character, background, inner thoughts and feelings

Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait 1980 Silver Gelatin Print

Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait (with make-up) 1980 Silver Gelatin Print

Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait 1988 Silver Gelatin Print

In this painting, the artist’s head and hands glow in the dark background. His fine dress and confident, somewhat arrogant gaze suggests he is highly regarded and successful. The female statuette he holds in his left hand symbolizes his power over the aesthetic world. Lely became Principal Painter to Charles II in 1661.

Sir Peter Lely (1618-80)Self-portrait, c. 1660

This painting by Egon Shiele (c. 1912) possesses a similar feeling of haughtiness. He appears to be looking down his nose at the viewer with a

look of disdain. Shiele did a great number of self portraits which reflected his self absorption.

Hogarth’s painting reveals his method of painting. The artist is shown with his palette of carefully laid out colours. In his hand he holds a brush for each

individual color. Hogarth was a very particular painter, using a palette knife to mix colors and separate brushes so as to not muddy his colors. He became

Sergeant Painter to the King (1757) but his portrait is much more humble in its approach than Lely’s.

William Hogarth (1697-1764)Self-portrait, c. 1757

Felix Nussbaum's famous Self Portrait with Jewish Identity Card (1943). He perished in the Holocaust

In this painting by Emily Carr, entitled “Self Portrait with Friends”, we see her surrounded by animals. Emily Carr was famously grouchy character who preferred the company of animals to humans. The humans in this painting

are removed and seem to lack the understanding of the painter that the animals have.-circa 1907. Watercolour, graphite, ink on paper

Assignment 3

• Get a friend or family member to take a full frontal and 2 profile photos of your head. You will use these photos as references for both your drawings. Using these images you will create 3 drawings:

1. Looking in a mirror, create 3 blind contours of your2. A realistic full frontal or profile drawing with full shading. If you

wish to grid the photos and your drawing sheets off you are welcome to do this. Here is a good step-by-step demonstration of how to do a grid drawing:http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-use-a-grid-to-enlarge-an-image-while-drawing--cms-20593

3. You will then do a more expressive self portrait. You can use the photographs as reference or a mirror. Use color, setting, expression, line, and texture to convey something of yourself to us the viewers. Don’t forget the back ground as well. It too should say something about you in the choice of colour, texture, pattern, scenery etc…