From Leonardo da Vinci to Andy Warhol, artists have been creating portraits of themselves. Before the advent of photography, self-portraiture was necessary to show the world what a painter looked like, while just the undertaking of a self-portrait indicated that an artist was serious enough to present proof of emerging talent. Additionally, self-portraits were and still are part of formal art education, though in modern times the concept of a self-portrait has become less about actual portraiture and more about individual expression.
Dutch geniuses Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh painted many self-portraits. Rembrandt essentially provided a chronicle of a maturing artist, while van Gogh appeared to be questioning his identity and trying out new techniques. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo also painted numerous versions of herself, exploring her deepest psyche and issues regarding cultural heritage, love, and sexuality.
Cryptic or Candid
In some cases, an artist’s not representing his or her self clearly in a portrait is revealing in its own way. Marcel Duchamp’s Sad Young Man on a Train is as challenging as many of Duchamp’s other works, while Charles Sheeler’s The Artist Looks at Nature shows Sheeler with his back to us at an easel, facing a maze of elements from his previous paintings. We don’t really learn what Sheeler looked like, but we do sense that he preferred to be identified through his art.
American Impressionist Willard Metcalf’s 1890 self-portrait is half-shadowed. Some speculate that Metcalf didn’t show his full face to express doubts about his financial and artistic future, while others suggest that Metcalf might have been hinting at having a bit of a dark side beyond his tranquil landscapes. Mark Rothko’s 1936 self-portrait has his gaze obscured by what look like blue-black lenses, giving an effect of vulnerability or detachment – or whatever we happen to see. Conversely, Edward Hopper’s self-portrait is done with the painter’s expert realism, but interestingly has more facial detail and individuality than most of Hopper’s other subjects.
Alice Neel's nude painting of herself as an 80-year-old defiantly shows the effects of time on her body. Sir Stanley Spencer’s 1914 self-portrait portrays an artist at the beginning of his career, still boyish-looking, a richly dark background outlining the healthy tones of his skin. Spencer’s self-portrait done shortly before his death in 1959, however, uses lighter tones, with the artist looking almost ghostlike and accepting his own mortality.
Courbet Everywhere
One of the masters of the self-portrait and self-promotion was 19th century French artist Gustave Courbet, who did so many paintings of himself that critics of the time complained, “Courbet waving, Courbet walking…Courbet everywhere….” Throughout his 58 years of lusty appetites, controversy, political protest and imprisonment, Courbet knew he was his own greatest asset and that reinvention was the key to keeping himself and his audience interested. His 1844 The Desperate Man shows Courbet at his frazzled and handsome best; he also liked to take on other roles in his self-portraits, though towards the end of his days he had reached the point of painting pictures of himself as strangely symbolized by dying trout.
Whatever the case, the message behind Courbet’s obsession with Courbet seems to be that self-portraiture is self-preservation, and that while an artist may go through many ups and downs in life, no one can take the self away – and like a blank canvas, it can be whatever he or she decides.
Sources
- The Met Showcases Gustave Courbet – New York Newsday, Ariella Budick
- WebMuseum – Vincent van Gogh Self-Portraits
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