Self-portraits I - from Dürer to Boltanski
Albrecht Dürer, “Self-portrait with gloves”, 1498.
Jan Gossaert painted in 1515. Perhaps a self-portrait.
Maurice Quentin-Latour, last self-portrait, around 1780.
Quentin de la Tour, in addition to his immense talent, was also a humanist, friend of encyclopedists. He sought to promote philanthropic projects. Having become rich, his portraits sold very expensively, in 1784, he retired to his hometown of Saint-Quentin. He founded a free drawing school there, financed a foundation for women in childbirth and another for old, infirm artisans. At the end of his life, his character changed and he lost his reason. He died on February 17, 1788.
Courbet 1852
When Renoir made this self-portrait in 1875, the artist was 34 years old. The painting was shown at the Second Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1876 and eventually purchased by an important collector, Dr. Georges de Bellio.
Claude Monet 1884
Paul Cezanne, self-portrait, 1882
Vincent Van Gogh, “Self-portrait”, 1889.
Frantisek Kupka
Egon Schiele, “Self-portrait with lantern and fruit”, 1912. Very tortured but magnificent. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele is a major figurative painter of the early 20th century.
Emil Nolde, "Self-portrait" from 1917 of this lover of nature and his roots, he also took the name of his native village as a pseudonym.
Chagall 1917
Giovanni Giacometti, "Self-portrait", 1925. Giovanni Giacometti was born on March 7, 1868, in Switzerland, in Stampa. After studying at the School of Decorative Arts in Munich, he moved to Paris to follow courses at the Académie Julian.
A painter with flamboyant colors, close to Fauvism, he gave his three sons a passion for Art.
The eldest, Alberto, born in 1901, began his career as a painter using the same richness of colors. He would become one of the most important sculptors in the history of art.
Diego, born in 1902, turned to the decorative arts, notably by creating immediately recognizable bronze furniture (Picasso Museum in Paris, Fondation Maeght, Kronenhalle restaurant in Zurich, etc.)
In 1902 his daughter, Ottilla, was born, who died giving birth to Silvio in 1937.
Bruno, born in 1907, will be a appreciated and recognized architect. I remember him and his vitality, he bowed out in 2012 at the age of 104!
Passionate about the evolution of modern art and confident in the new generation embodied by his son, Giovanni Giacometti wrote on February 18, 1933 to his friend the collector Henri-Auguste Widmer, owner of this Self-portrait: “I understand your remarks very well on these new manifestations of sculpture. In my opinion we can express by means of pure form impressions and sensations which until now were not within our possibilities. Sculpture wants to be a creation of living forms existing by oneself and not a rough imitation of nature... Art has always evolved and it is young people who must set out on new paths. Those who follow do not go forward, Leonardo said.”
Egyptian inspiration is often cited for Giacometti's iconic sculpture, "The Walking Man." But isn't it even more obvious in this "Seated Self-Portrait" from 1934, which evokes "The Seated Scribe" shirtless, full face, paper in hands?
Tsugouharu Foujita in 1928, “Self-portrait with a cat”.
A lover of cats, he painted and drew them throughout his life.
Arriving in France in 1913, he quickly became one of the colorful characters who would make Montparnasse a world-famous arts district.
He adopted the first name Leonardo in 1959 in honor of Blessed Leonard Kimura, martyr in Japan, but also in homage to Leonardo da Vinci.
Self-portrait in a Bugatti" by Tamara de Lempicka, 1929.
All the humor of Norman Rockwell with this self-portrait, or rather this "Triple Self-Portrait", 1960. But who recognizes the four other portraits present in the canvas?
Diego Rivera 1941
Diego Rivera 1954
Giorgio de Chirico "Self-portrait", 1954
Chirico is primarily known for his metaphysical paintings, produced between 1909 and 1919. These melancholic renderings of dimly lit city squares with long shadows and empty walkways, deeply rooted in surrealism, influenced André Breton, Salvador Dalí and René Magritte .
When de Chirico abandoned the metaphysical style, he returned to traditional painting, as with this truculent self-portrait. The Surrealists then publicly criticized this anti-modern development, Chirico then broke with the Surrealist group.
When de Chirico abandoned the metaphysical style, he returned to traditional painting, as with this truculent self-portrait. The Surrealists then publicly criticized this anti-modern development, Chirico then broke with the Surrealist group.
Pablo Picasso "Self-portrait" in a sketchbook from 1966.
In 1958, Picasso bought the Château de Vauvenargues, a 14th century building near Aix-en-Provence, at the foot of the Sainte-Victoire mountain.
The Mediterranean of the south of France remained for Picasso a place of life but also a place of incredible artistic production. It is there that he looks at ancestral creative techniques such as ceramics and returns to the sources of art history by reinventing certain iconographic myths. The Mediterranean reminds him of his native Spain, between sunbathing and bullfights.
Picasso was 90 years old when he painted this last self-portrait, shortly before he died on April 8, 1973. In this look, I suspect a panicked fear of death, but also a naivety, even an amusement with life. Hats off to the artist.
Without doubt Bacon's self-portrait that I prefer, 1969.
Andy Warhol, genius of communication with this large “Self-portrait” from 1966, (171 x 171 cm)
Boltanski
The book La Saga Maeght by Yoyo Maeght, with dedication. Link here