Week 11: The Self Portrait

Self Portrait, One light set up

The Anatomy of the Portrait

Week 11. The self portrait has been reflection piece for the artist over hundreds of years by painters and photographers alike. It's a sort of statement of where they are as an artist and often, somehow portrays their state of mind, if you look hard enough into the history. There has been some very famous self portraits over the years from M.C. Escher, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Rembrandt to Andreas Feininger, Andy Warhol, Henri Cartier Bresson and more modern self portrait artists like Jamie Beck, Natalia Seth, Rosie Hardy, Michael Ulmer and Juno Calypso.

Often an element of capturing the current times, the current moment, the current styles and the current state of mind, so there is a lot to tell from a self portrait. Artists and photographers will use it as a way of testing their creative ideas or skill level without having the need to get someone else involved. You could say there is an element of self control and vulnerability in a self portrait, in the way that they open themselves up to the world, but in their own way. This is me, but from my perspective, or sometimes, this is me, but how you perceive me, but it's not, maybe this isn't me.

It's open to interpretation as is with everything.

Artists and photographers will do many self portraits over their career often to show their progression as an artist, sometimes just depicting their look, style or themselves in different scenarios. Some surreal, some on the street, some in the studio.