Identity Unit:Self-Portraiture

A)Historically, why do artists make self-portraits?

A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed by the artist him/her self. Self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times. But from the mid-15th century, artists began frequently drawing themselves as the main subject in their work. “Portrait of a Man in a Turban” by Jan van Eyck in 1433 may well be the earliest known panel self-portrait.(Wikipedia)

Historically, artists drew self-portraits as an attestment to their ability to capture a likeness and give a sense of their capabilities. Also the self-portraits are convenient exercises, because the model is always available and works for free. They are always looking at their faces in the mirror, so they can easily practice drawing, an imitative way of painting. Artists use portrait painting as a method of introspection, a method to make money and a method of developing their skills as an artist. They are presenting their personal self to the world on canvas, but it gives others the opportunity to see yourself from a different perspective. I thought of the self portrait as just a drawing of your own face, but the artist can also put thoughts and feelings into her self portrait.  When you make an objective observation of yourself, it is a verification of how you are perceived by other people. Then, its appearance will change your feelings. The human’s faces are always different, the face is always changing, like our feelings.

B. i) Choose two of the following artists whom we have looked at:

-Peter Blake

-Salvador Dali

-Frida Kahlo

-Ron Mueck

-Gustave Courbet

Compare how they have described their identity through their self-portrait. Include an example of their work.

I chose Gustave Courbet as one of the artists to research. Gustave Courbet was born in France. He was a renowned French artist during the 19th century. He was an artist said to have “bridged the gap between Romanticism.” Most of his paintings featured still life, hunting scenes and landscapes.

The other artist I chose was Salvador Dali who was a famous Spanish painter. He was not only a painter, he was also an illustrator, sculptor, writer and film maker. Dali's work themes were death and decay. Dalí's art was called the epitome of Surrealism.

Gustave Courbet’s self-portrait is called, “The Desperate Man”. The painting was completed in 1845. Courbet had a personality that was “bold, wily, radical, ambitious and determined”. This self-portrait shows that. In this painting we see the artist looking directly at us. In the painting it feels like he is looking right out into the world. His eyes are big and round. His eyes look scared and filled with panic. He is putting his hands through his hair adding to the feel of panic. His self-portrait feels very real. His lips are red and look very realistic. His hands and arms show each muscle and movement. His white shirt has wrinkles and looks real. The colours of the painting are dark. He uses only white, black and skin colours. The background of the painting in a dark tan or brown colour. The painting looks like a photograph. It looks very real.

In contrast I looked at Salvador Dali’s self-portrait titled, “The Sort Portrait with Fried Bacon.” This painting was completed in 1941. This portrait is very different from Courbet’s. Dali’s painting of himself shows his face as a mask. This self portrait shows no expression. The mask is shades of brown and skin coloured and is melting. His face is held-up by 9 crutches. The crutches are even in his eyes. The portrait is missing ears and hair. Also, there is one fried bacon. The fried bacon represents Dali's love of gastronomy, in its cooked form. The soft structure is Dali’s trademark, this painting is also an example. The bacon’s meat is the soft materials that became hard because it was fried, then it crumpled up. The melting self portrait shows a collapse of his existence.  The crutches’ meaning are “anchorage”. His melting mind is held-up by crutches, his “anchorage” is what manages to keep him alive.  

Gustave Courbet and Salvador Dali are both artists who drew with their feelings. But in another way, Courbet drew the self portrait realistically, like a photo. Dali drew it to embody himself. Those are different perspectives. Gustave shows himself as real, but Dali shows himself with the abstract.

    

ii) In what way can we add personality to a self-portrait?

If you are realist, you can draw like Gustave Courbet. He was a realist artist, he draw real person’s face such as “The Desperate Man”. He drew man face which was very bloodcurdling face in his self portrait. In this view, it conceivable things are he was scared of something in his real life. Also, we notice some his personality from his action, he is pulling his hair out over and wide his eyes. From these things, it is conceivable he was wild, he wasn’t quite person. Therefore we can add our personality at our face, pose and countenance. I think it’s title is also important points for show your personality in your self portrait. For example, if “The Desperate Man” was different title, it going to create a different feel. Therefore the title also important.