Artists' Self-Portraits

For my fifth assignment in Drawing 1 I researched women’s self-portraiture, and found a very interesting introductory video by Maria Morata on the documentary Exposed: Self-portraits of women for the German feminist magazine imagofeminae in 2014. In the period since I completed that assignment I've thought more about the subject and am now expanding upon it.

In the documentary Morata interviewed several contemporary women artists on the subject, but unfortunately apart from some short press releases I could not find the actual interviews. In the introductory video however, Morata makes the interesting comment that “when a woman makes a self-portrait, she is taking the power to create her own image and becomes master of her own image - a kind of freedom for the woman”.

She makes the point about women artists that when a woman makes a self-portrait, she asks herself “How I am?” “How do I want to show myself?” “Who am I in the context?” and “What are the things that existentially challenge my life?” At the time I related very much to these questions and they stimulated me to think about my own image of myself and my identity.

In her book Seeing Ourselves – Women’s Self-portraits, Frances Borzello - British art historian and scholar, feminist art critic and author - seems to agree with Morata in relation to differences between self-portraits by men and by women. She found that male self-portraits were in general more dramatic self-depictions in a landscape or spectacular background, while the majority of women artists presented themselves in a more subdued manner. She also found that prior to the 19th century, women’s self-portraiture was a rarity and that there was a connection between the themes in female self-portraiture and the time the paintings were done; the earlier ones, in the late 18th century, were usually in maternal contexts or as musicians, whereas in the 20th century they tended towards pregnancy or sexuality.

Borzello acknowledges that from the 15th century onwards self-portraits by men and by women were done for a variety of reason; partly to serve as a record of the time - as photography does now, but also for self-promotion - to demonstrate their ability to catch a likeness for prospective clients.

Having undertaken further research on a more objective level I started questioning Morata’s statement (“when a woman makes a self-portrait, she is taking the power to create her own image and becomes master of her own image - a kind of freedom for the woman”) and asked myself different questions, such as –

1. Is her statement strictly gender-related or does it apply also to male self-portraits?

2. Is this the only reason for women self-portraiture?

3. Is Morata’s statement a new way of thinking or it has been like that since the beginning of self-portraiture? I ask this because as indicated above – before the 19th century women’s self-portraiture was apparently rare – so perhaps Morata was talking just about contemporary artists

In trying to answer these questions I asked myself what motivates me to do a self-portrait - apart from being asked to do so in this course - and my conclusions are that:

1. It's a very convenient form of practice - I can do it at home at any time, I just need a mirror or a camera. I can spend as much time as I like working on it, and don’t need to hire a model or go to the life drawing class where the time is limited or ask permission to take pictures

2. I can portray myself any way I like - facial expression, clothing or surroundings, and can experiment as much as I like without the compromise element of having a sitter.

3. I can do as many self-portraits as I like, and if I choose to do a series, they can be a record of how I see myself through time.

4. On a commercial level, if I am happy with the result, I can use it as a means of securing commissions, though a frequent comment is that while my self-portraits are well done, they are sad and depressing. The main thing is that they trigger a response and people think they are well done, though I do see that the subdued and dark colours I unconsciously use could put off potential customers.

Assessing my personal reasons, Morata’s statement can be applied to my reasons No 2 and No 3, although that depends on the purpose of the work - whether just for practise or in a more profound level for existential questioning. With this is mind I decided to analyse some of the self-portraits by famous artists.

Rembrandt – Self-portrait with Bittern – 1639 Oil on Board 89x121cm

Rembrandt shows himself here holding a dead bird as if he was a hunter, though in the Netherlands at the time the sport was reserve for the nobility, so the presumption is that Rembrandt could not himself have been a hunter. Some academics have suggested that Rembrandt’s intention was to show his affiliation with nobility to elevate his social status, others that it was as a symbol of mortality, but whatever his intentions I can see some connection to Morata’s statement.

Rembrandt had the freedom to show himself however he wanted - in this painting as a hunter despite not being a hunter himself, and perhaps he was thinking on the one hand of who he really was and on the other of who he would like to be. Or maybe he was simply using the painting as an advert to entice potential noble customers.

Rembrandt did over a hundred self-portraits in his lifetime, in various contexts, each of which may have had a different intention - practice, advertising his work, self-indulgency, etc. but certainly in all of them he makes great use of his freedom to depict himself as he wanted.

Vincent van Gogh Self-portrait 1889

Van Gogh painted over 30 self-portraits between 1886 and 1889, and his mark-making, despite the bright and often light colours he used managed to evoke his disturbed mental state. In one of his many letters to his brother Theo he gives his reason for painting this self-portrait (Extract of the letter: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 5th/6th September 1889) - “People say – and I’m quite willing to believe it – that it’s difficult to know oneself – but it’s not easy to paint oneself either. So, I’m working on two portraits of myself at the moment – for want of another model – because it’s more than time that I did a bit of figure work. One I began the first day when I got up, I was thin, pale as a devil - a dark violet blue and the head is whiteish with yellow hair, thus a colour effect”

I can see in this letter his search for the response to the question “how I am?” and the realisation of time, how he saw himself at the time he was working.

Frida Khalo 1907-1954 Self-portrait with cropped hair 1940 - oil on canvas 40 x 27.9 cm

In this work she shows herself soon after she cut her hair, with strands of long hair scattered on the floor, dressed in the oversize clothing of her husband Diego Rivera. On the wall above her are the lyrics from a Mexican song – “Look, if I loved you it was because of your hair - now that you are without hair, I don't love you anymore”. Although her gaze is defiant and slightly menacing, I personally read the signs that she wants to externalize her fear of her husband’s rejection. Her self-portraits always show an element of pain and fear, as if she wanted the viewer to feel what she was feeling, and I think there is an element of therapy in her self-portraits, in making use of her freedom to paint herself in whatever way she wanted.

Jenny Saville

In this self-portrait the inscriptions look engraved on her flesh, and are a paraphrase of an essay by the feminist writer Luce Irigarayan - “If we continue to speak in this sameness - speak as men have spoken for centuries, we will fail each other. Again, words will pass through our bodies, above our heads—disappear, make us disappear”.

This seems to be her response to the conventions of traditional art which usually portrays a stereotypical beauty of women. She uses her freedom to paint herself as she wants and maybe as she sees herself, contrary to stereotypical beauty. I see this powerful self-portrait more as a protest against convention in the world than as a search for identity. She is inciting women to celebrate difference rather than follow convention, which is a thought I very much agree with.

My conclusions on the subject of self-portraiture are that -

Although my research on the subject is very limited and just touches the surface, it seems that artists have many reasons for doing self-portraits - not necessarily based on gender, but on the experiences and desires of the artist. Historically the role of woman in art and in most professions was very limited, and therefore their experiences were different to male artists, which influenced the way they wanted to depict themselves. Some used self-portraiture to project themselves as who they wanted to be, others as promotional material or to protest against convention or in search for identity - and others just to practice. The reasons may have been singular or combined but a common feature in all self-portraiture, male and female, was freedom!

Reference

Frances Borzelo, 2018, Seeing Ourselves - Women's Self-Portraits, Thames & Hudson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moj2IZS3xKo&list=PLrLSMsXqZoM-O5FoRCyN6zEFc3Pn45CT1&index=4

https://www.wikiart.org/en/rembrandt/self-portrait-with-bittern-1639

https://ivypanda.com/essays/overview-rembrandts-self-portrait-with-a-dead-bittern-research-paper/

Sullivan, Scott A. “Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with a Dead Bittern.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 62, no. 2, 1980, pp. 236–243. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3049991.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3049991?read-now=1&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let800/letter.html#translationhttps://images.nga.gov/?service=asset&action=show_zoom_window_popup&language=en&asset=149207&location=grid&asset_list=149207&basket_item_id=undefined

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78333?sov_referrer=art_term&art_term_id=93

Emma Baker, Specialist on contemporary art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyGqwUD-Sv0&has_verified=1

How Jenny Saville Changed the Way We View the Female Form in Painting

Alina Cohen, Artsy Magazine Oct 11, 2018

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-jenny-saville-changed-way-view-female-form-painting