After six centuries, self-portraiture shows no sign of losing its ability to capture the public imagination. Self-portraits have the power to illuminate a range of universal concerns, from identity, purpose, and authenticity, to frailty, futility, and mortality. In this new volume in the Art Essentials series, author Natalie Rudd expertly casts fresh light on the self-portrait and its international appeal, exploring the historical contexts within which self-portraits developed and considering the meanings they hold today. With commentaries on works by artists ranging from Jan van Eyck, Francisco Goya, and Vincent van Gogh, to Frida Kahlo, Faith Ringgold, and Cindy Sherman, this book explores the emotive and expressive potential of self-portraiture. The Self-Portrait also considers a wide range of materials available for self-expression, from painting and photography to installation and performance. In the process, the book explores the central question of why artists return to the self-portrait again and again. In her vibrant and timely text, Rudd dissects this and other important questions, revealing the shifting faces of individuality and selfhood in an age where we are interrogating notions of personal identity more than ever before.
From cameo to center stage -- Jan van Eyck -- Filippo Lipi -- Adam Kraft -- Albrecht Durer -- Michelangelo -- Parmigianino -- Sofonisba Anguissola -- Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio -- Artemisia Gentileschi -- Work-life balance -- Clara Peeters -- Anthony van Dyck -- Judith Leyster -- Rembrandt van Rijn -- Diego Velazquez -- Mary Beale -- Anne Seymour Damer -- Elisabeth Louise Vigee le Brun -- Francisco Goya -- Soul searching -- Gustave Courbet -- Vincent van Gogh -- James Ensor -- Edvard Munch -- Kathe Kollwitz -- Dorothea Tanning -- Frida Kahlo -- Charlotte Salomon -- Helen Schjerfbeck -- Up close and personal -- Paula Modersohn-Becker -- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner -- Zinaida Serebriakova -- Egon Schiele -- Amrita Sher-Gil -- Lucian Freud -- Chuck Close -- Marina Abramovic -- Ana Mendieta -- Jean-Michel Basquiat -- Jenny Saville -- Making faces --Marcel Duchamp -- Claude Cahun -- Marisol -- Andy Warhol -- Tehching Hsieh -- Cindy Sherman -- Marc Quinn -- Catherine Opie -- Zhang Huang -- Yayoi Kusama -- Zanele Muholi -- Departures --Piero Manzoni -- Luise Bourgeois -- Rebecca Horn -- Martin Puryear -- Helen Chadwick -- Mona Hatoum -- Faith Ringgold -- Tracey Emin -- Pawel Althmaer -- Abraham Cruzvillegas -- Ryan Gander.