Self-portrait

In my assignment of photo self-portrait I will be discussing the artist and the masterwork that I have chosen, also the movement in which the artist practiced. My masterwork that I have chosen to work on is belongs to Robert Mapplethorpe and it is his self portrait of 1980. In his artwork he portrays himself as the archetypal bad boy, with black leather jacket, dark shirt, cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, the coolly appraising gaze and the carefully coiffed 50s style hair. Reason why I have chosen this self portrait of Mapplethorpe is because his style of photography and art is unique and expressive; it feels like it tells a story. While researching I found out that Mapplethorpe studied drawing, painting, and sculpture, influenced…

“Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror” by John Ashbery is a work of convoluted reflections engaging Renaissance painter Parmigiano, his painting “Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror”, Ashbery himself, and the soul. The poem’s source of inspiration is a physical piece of art, suggesting the poem belongs in the ekphrasis tradition. Immediate tension arises as the painting and the poem belong to vastly different traditions. The technique of ekphrasis in a postmodern tradition has challenged scholars as it…

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting Surrounded by portraits of and by male artists, Artemisia Gentileschi’s (1593-1652) oil on canvas Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) 1638-39 stands out in the midst of Vancouver Art Gallery’s “The Royal Collections: Portrait of the Artist” exhibition. As one of the only woman artist portraits, it pronounces itself in entirety to symbolise the prominence she has given females in history as she paints herself as…

Self portraiture in Europe during the Renaissance served as a practice to both attract business and to prove that one was affluent and respected; when adding in the female gender to this mix, it was of the upmost importance that viewers of the self-portraits could become particularly aware of the artist’s talent. By looking specifically at two self-portraits done by women in Europe during the 17th century (one from Northern Europe and the other from Italy), this paper will help discern what it…

“Le désespéré”, the artist demonstrates different aspects of his personality and emotion which seems to involve frustration, determination, and despair. Courbet’s self-portrait is one of the most famous of the Romantic; however, he fades from tradition as the portrait demonstrates an additional aspect of his personality slowly creating what would be the Realist Movement only a decade later. In “Dystopia 3” by Aziz and Cucher, the artists modify a young girl’s face to show the lack of…

Although Frida knew Diego would still have affairs with other women and could never be the husband that she wants him to be. In this self-portrait named “As a Tehuana” Frida painted Diego’s face on her forehead, in place of the third eye. Frida wears an elaborate tehuana Mexican dress (Diego’s favorite) perhaps in an attempt to recover his admiration. Around her face the whole painting is full of cracks, symbolizing the marks in her soul. There’s a way to know when a painting by Kahlo…

Exposure to Reality As Jennifer Elisabeth said in her book Born Ready, “I feel a resurgence of my 6-year-old self…that little warrior, goddess of a girl reminding me of who I was when I was little, before the world got its hands on me.”In other words, society has corrupted our way of living in our culture. Our own personal culture that we are familiar with and a part of can shape how we view ourselves very deeply. It gives us a defining sense of self and can dictate what our values become.…

This trapped feeling and confusion is presented in Kahlo’s self portrait “The Broken Column”. The painting represents all the pain Kahlo feels emotionally and physically. Physically because she had been in a car accident which lead to constant pains and surgeries throughout the rest of her life. Kahlo places nails around her body symbolizing the points where she feels pain. The largest nail in the photo is placed in the area where her heart would be. This could be a representation of the painful…

One of my many characteristics include being abetting. In my self portrait I depict my abetting by showing my left hand with a thumbs up kind of action. I chose this type of gesture because it depicts being supportive by showing a motion that makes others go forward and it reminds me of a situation in when you need support that is usually the far away gesture people give you. In my life when ever In my life I have gotten support and I know what it is to give it to others and pass the support…

Self Portrait: In the self-portrait I tried to use a mix of the two strategies into one photo. I incorporated the strategies of contradiction and also exhibitionism to portray the destruction of stress. I tried to express a contradiction of my personality through the visualization of a gag, and the process of stress causing the contradiction of my true personality. The gag, which is stretched is to appear as it is skin being stretched. This is supposed to symbolize the contradiction of my…