ANNA'S REVIEWS: Self Portrait - Renaissance to Comtemporary

26 April 2006

Exhibition: Self Portrait
Renaissance to Contemporary
Art Gallery of NSW
17 February 2006 – 14 May 2006

The exhibition is a celebration of the skill, inventiveness and wit of individual artists, and an exploration of the qualities particular to the self-portrait painted in oils. (Excerpt from gallery brochure).

This selection of works is not only of interest as self-portraits of artists but it is also a pictorial history of artistic styles down the centuries –from the early smooth Mannerist style of Allori to the staccato brushwork of Vincent Van Gogh, through to the Pop images of Andy Warhol’s’ acrylic silk screen prints.

Arranged in chronological order around the exhibition space the selected works begin with a tiny duo by Gerlach Flicke (1495-1558) painted on the top of a small box, and concludes with a range of current artists including Jenny Saville (b.1970).

It is interesting to note that the advent of the self-portrait coincided with the technical improvement of glass manufacture which allowed artists to use mirrors of sufficient reflective quality. This technological advance is followed later by the advent of the camera which is the tool of choice for Jenny Saville whose oversized, squashed up nude dominates the contemporary pieces.

Prior to cameras, the portrait artist was in demand to record images of friends and family as mementos for those travelling or separated for various reasons. The self-portrait was used as a portfolio to exhibit the artist’s skills and to show the class and status of the artist in a hierarchal society.

Even back in the early 1600s, artists used the composition of their works to create interest. The work by Annibale Carracci, the renowned painter of the Farnese ceiling mural in Rome and the creator of the Baroque style, shows not the artist looking out at us but rather his image on a canvas on his easel. His small white dog sits next to the easel looking at the viewer. This is a very modern, almost 20th Century composition rather than the traditional classic pose and certainly not the Baroque style for which he became known.

There are a surprising number of women artists represented in these early works. Striving to overcome the perceived roles of the man as inventor and maker while the woman’s role was seen as that of the nurturing domestic, women such as Sofonisba Anguissola portrayed themselves as classic characters, in this case enacting the role of St Luke painting the Virgin Mary.

The work by Judith Leyster (1609-60) shows her smiling as she works on a painting of a laughing minstrel. Judith may not have struggled to be recognised as an artist as much as some women artists of her time as she grew up surrounded by talented family members. Perhaps by representing herself at her artistic work she hoped to further minimise any prejudice against herself as a woman.

Not only are these works of interest for their technique, they also show us the attire of the day. For example, Judith shows herself wearing a cap with sheer material edging it and a wonderful Elizabethan lacy ruff standing out horizontally from her neck across her shoulders, which would strengthen the concept of herself to her prospective patrons as one of the acceptable artistic class.

One might compare this happy composition with the other Dutch artist in this exhibition, Charley Toorop (1891-1955) whose stern face stares out at us from a background of winter branches reflecting the tough times of occupied Holland during the last years of World War II.

The bright pink, yellow and bright Mexican blues of “The Frame” by Frida Kahlo (1907-54) also contrast with the stark monotones of Toorop’s self portrait. The brightness of Frida Kahlo’s work defies the pain she was known to have suffered after a bus accident in Mexico City in 1925. While sometimes referred to as a Surrealist she denied this term saying that she “represented her own reality”.

The cooperation between the National Portrait Gallery of London, curator, Dr Joanna Woodall of the Courtauld Institute of Art and Anthony Bond, Head Curator at the NSW Art Gallery has brought together an extraordinary collection for our enjoyment. Many works in this exhibition are normally kept in permanent collections in Madrid, Washington, New York and in Britain, the Royal Collection, as well as the Tate Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery itself.

Whether the viewer is an art student, a collector of art, an art historian or someone who appreciates art for arts sake, this exhibition has something of interest. Rarely, in Australia, is it possible to see the range of history of western art represented together in one place as it is here. Despite the fact that some lesser known women artists are represented here perhaps Dr Woodall or Mr Bond strove to ensure they were included, for their inclusion adds to the overall interest and knowledge of western art history.

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