The self-portrait
Subtitle: a cultural history
By: James Hall
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780500239100
Subjects: Portraits; Artists; Art appreciation; Self-portraits; History
Description: In this broad cultural survey, art historian and critic James Hall brilliantly maps the history of self-portraiture, from the earliest myths of Narcissus to the prolific self-image-making of contemporary artists. His intelligent and vivid account shows how artists' depictions of themselves have been part of a continuing tradition that reaches back for centuries. Along the way he reveals the importance of the medieval 'mirror craze'; the explosion of the genre during the Renaissance; the confessional self-portraits of Titian and Michelangelo; the role of biography for serial self-portraitists such as Courbet and van Gogh; themes of sex and genius in works by Munch, Bonnard and Modersohn-Becker; and the latest developments of the genre in the era of globalization. The full range of self-portraits is covered here, from comic and caricature self-portraits to 'invented' or imaginary ones, as well as key collections of self-portraiture such as that of the Medici in Florence. Throughout, Hall asks why - and when - artists have chosen to make self-portraits, and looks deeply into the worlds and mindsets of the artists who have created them. Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated, the book features the work of a wide range of artists including Alberti, Caravaggio, Courbet, Dürer, Emin, Gauguin, Giotto, Goya, Kahlo, Koons, Magritte, Mantegna, Picasso, Raphael, Rembrandt and Warhol. Offering a rich and lively history, The Self-Portrait is an essential read for all those interested in this most enduringly popular and humane of art forms.--Publisher.
Notes: "120 illustrations, 109 in color."

Contains bibliographic references (pages 283) and index.
Table of contents: title: Medieval origins; title: A craze for mirrors; title: The artist in society; title: The renaissance artist as hero; title: Mock-heroic self-portraits; title: The artist's studio; title: At the crossroads; title: Coming home : into the nineteenth century; title: Sex and genius; title: Beyond the face : modern and contemporary self-portraits.