History of self portraiture

• A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist.

• In the 15th century, artists first started frequently depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work.

One of the earliest self-portraits ever made: Man with Turban by Jan Van

Eyck, 1433

• With better and cheaper mirrors, many painters, sculptors and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture.

• Durer was one of the first artists to systematically do self portraits over the course of his life

Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait Age 13, 1484

Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait with Pillow

Age 20, 1491

Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait

Age 22, 1493

Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait Age 28, 1500

Rembrandt did the same a century and a half later…

Age 23 Age 23 Age 28

Age 54 Age 55 Age 63

Lorenzo Ghiberti – Self Portrait on Baptistry Doors

Age 20, 1484

Artemisia Gentileschi

Judith Leyster

Da Vinci – Study for an Angel (not a self portrait

obviously)

This is him…

El Greco

Van Gogh

Kikuchi Yosai, 1856

Yan Pei-Ming, 2000

Robert Arneson – Chemo Self-Portrait, 1992

Robert Arneson – California Artist

Brian Castellani

Chuck Close

Pulp Paper Portrait

Cindy Sherman

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Henri Rousseau

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo

Lucien Freud – Reflection (Self-

Portrait)

Max Beckman

Elizabeth Peyton

Jenny Saville