Museum Arnhem
3 October 2015 – 24 January 2015
Group exhibition
The Self-Portrait
The motives for creating a self-portrait vary widely—sometimes commissioned, sometimes as study material, as a prompt for self-examination, or as a means to experiment with different styles. The self-portrait is a snapshot through which the artist shows the viewer how they see themselves and, above all, how they wish to be seen. The genre has evolved not only over time but is also approached in vastly different ways by artists of the same generation.
The Exhibition
With over one hundred paintings, drawings, photographs, video works, and installations, Spiegeloog (Mirror Eye) offers a rich overview of these developments. The exhibition and accompanying publication highlight key 20th-century shifts, such as the recognition of the subconscious and the disappearance of recognizable representation. In the second half of the 20th century, the self-portrait became a tool in conceptual and feminist art, as well as in body art, to address political, social, and societal issues. Increasingly, the genre is linked to questions of gender and ethnic identity. Beyond depicting appearance or serving as a mirror of the artist’s soul, the self-portrait also reflects the spirit of the times. It is both a testament to individuality and a universal means of expressing the Self. Spiegeloog explores this underlying tension among the portraits, juxtaposing Jan Mankes’s (1889–1920) nearly translucent 1912 self-portrait with Katharina Behrend’s (1888–1973) nude self-portrait from 1908. A nearly heroic self-portrait by Carel Willink (1900–1983) is compared with Gerrit van ’t Net’s (1910–1971) fragmented Self-Portrait “I” (1932).
Selfie
Spiegeloog also examines the impact of the (amateur) selfie and its associated status anxiety. Does the current flood of selfie imagery influence how artists engage with the self-portrait? Similar to the invention of the mirror, the invention of the camera profoundly affected artistic self-representation. The advent of lightweight cameras paved the way for spontaneous, unposed portraits both inside and outside the studio. With cameras now widely accessible and digital possibilities expanding, the boundary between the intimacy of a private self-portrait and its public, open accessibility seems to have dissolved.