An ambitious exploration of the self-portrait from its inception in the early fifteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century, this groundbreaking book moves beyond the constraints of art history. "Self Portraits: Renaissance to Contemporary" allows us to share an intimate encounter with great artists of the past. The artist once stood before a canvas and gazed into a mirror; we, in turn, stand before the canvas looking at what the artist saw in the mirror. For a moment, time and space are collapsed and we ...
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An ambitious exploration of the self-portrait from its inception in the early fifteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century, this groundbreaking book moves beyond the constraints of art history. "Self Portraits: Renaissance to Contemporary" allows us to share an intimate encounter with great artists of the past. The artist once stood before a canvas and gazed into a mirror; we, in turn, stand before the canvas looking at what the artist saw in the mirror. For a moment, time and space are collapsed and we find a reflection of ourselves in the artist's eyes. With 140 images from collections around the world, From Van Eyck to Chuck Close, this book includes pioneering essays on self-portraiture by leading art historians as well as informative analyses of each of the paintings. The artists are shown constructing their identity, setting the scene for their life and times and above all showing themselves as creative individuals, often captured in the act of conjuring their own image in the studio.Anthony Bond is Head Curator of Western Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Joanna Woodall of the Courtauld Institute of Art is an early modern specialist, Ludmilla Jordanova is Director of the Centre for Research of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge. T.J. Clark is Professor of History of Art at the University of Berkeley, California and Joseph Leo Koerner is Professor of History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
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