Art 131
Maggie Whitley
November 15, 2012
Portraits Throughout History
Portraits and self portraits throughout history have been crucial to the development in the artistic world, be it due to self development in the artist own personal gain of self understanding or if it is an economical gain of not having to pay a model to sit for the artist while he/she works. Without all of the amazing portraits society has gained over the years, especially in the 16th century. Take The Mona Lisa for example, this piece is a oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci, and is a big part of the development in this time period. This is a stunning portrait and is known for the striking eyes and mystery that they hold.
There are a lot of differences in self-portraits from the Renaissance period and today, but there are a lot of key things that have remained the same. For starters the realistic aspect of self-portraits has remained but the overall posture has not so much changed completely but rather altered a bit. For instance, in the previous picture (Mona Lisa) she almost looks a little stiff unlike a lot of the self-portraits and portraits today, which have more of a casual and raw feel to them. Also there has been a big change in media use, we now tend to rely on more of a variety of medias unlike the Renaissance times when they mainly focused on using oil paints. The “Self Portrait in a Striped T-Shirt” by Henri Matisse in 1906, inspired me just due to the boldness of the colors and the eyes.
This portrait called “Self Portrait 1968” by William Dobell, is just beautifully done, and has a sense of a dreary day to it.
I wasn’t completely happy with the turn out of my own self portrait and I feel like I still have a lot of work that needs to be put into it. I liked the idea of having very striking eyes and having them be the main focus in my drawing. I also wanted to incorporate something and a big part of who I am. And that is where the sweatshirt comes into play, more as symbolism rather than anything else. Just the idea of putting on your favorite sweatshirt and started out your day right. That’s the feeling I wanted to incorporate into my drawing.
Works Cited
Sorabella, Jean. "Portraiture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/port/hd_port.htm (August 2007)
Matisse, Henri. Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt 1906. 1906. www.artquotes.net. 15 Nov. 2012, <http://www.artquotes.net/masters/henri-matisse/self-portrait-1906.htm> Dobell, William. Self Portrait 1968. 1968. www.artquotes.net. 15 Nov. 2012, <http://www.artquotes.net/masters/william-dobell/self-portrait.htm>
Cited: Sorabella, Jean. "Portraiture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/port/hd_port.htm (August 2007) Matisse, Henri. Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt 1906. 1906. www.artquotes.net. 15 Nov. 2012, <http://www.artquotes.net/masters/henri-matisse/self-portrait-1906.htm> Dobell, William. Self Portrait 1968. 1968. www.artquotes.net. 15 Nov. 2012, <http://www.artquotes.net/masters/william-dobell/self-portrait.htm>
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