Selfies...
4:05 p.m.
Long before smart-phones, artists made portraits of themselves. The self-portrait was, and still is, a deep exercise of analysis of personal features, in which an artist tries to capture his self-expression to reflect it on a canvas.
Actually, the National Portrait Gallery of London is trying to avoid the sale of what can be considered the first "selfie": Antoon Van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599-London, 1641)'s self-portrait. The painting was acquired by Formula 1 racer James Ecclestone in 12 million pounds, during Sotheby's last Great Masters' auction in London. The British Government has issued a limited-time restriction, till funds are raised, prohibiting the masterpiece to be taken out of British territory. The campaign seeks to avoid the painting to disappear from public display and be taken to Los Angeles (US) to be part of a private collection.
In this painting, Van Dyck pictures himself in half-profile with an arm slightly raised - as if holding a smart-phone, although he is actually holding a paintbrush.
In this painting, Van Dyck pictures himself in half-profile with an arm slightly raised - as if holding a smart-phone, although he is actually holding a paintbrush.
Self-portrait, by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1640)
By the 20th century, artists move away from authenticity and the self-portrait smashes the rules of Academic tradition to become a field of experimentation. The portrait becomes a deep study not only of the changes experienced in art but also in the way man and his social surroundings are seen.
Autorretrato, by Emilio Pettoruti (1918)
Today the self-portrait emerges from the fields of the arts and becomes popular as a narcissistic act of postmodernism.
Keep reading... The Times, Monday, March 17th, 2014, The Arts.
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