Editor's note: The University Art Gallery, California State University, Dominguez Hills provided source material to Resource Library for the following article or essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material, please contact the University Art Gallery directly through either this phone number or web address:
The Artist Revealed: Artist Portraits and Self-Portraits
February 8 - March 7, 2007
The Artist Revealed is a traveling exhibition organized by the Syracuse University Art Collection that brings together fifty works in a variety of media ranging from painting to sculpture that examines self-portraits and portraits of other artists, actors, writers and musicians. Having opened on February 8, 2007 at the University Art Gallery, CSU Dominguez Hills, this exhibition runs through March 7, 2007. Included in the show are works by Milton Avery, Chuck Close, Leonard Baskin, Edward Steichen, Norman Rockwell, and Anders Zorn. Sitters include James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Eakins, Charlie Chaplin, C.S. Lewis, and Pablo Casals.
An artist's portrait, like all good portraits, offers the viewer more than physical features. One sees the characteristics of the sitter that make that person a unique individual. All artists are involved with, or have a heightened interest in, creative pursuits which makes them interesting candidates for portrait subjects. On the other hand, a self-portrait is an artist's opportunity to make a statement. Traditional portraiture, especially commissioned ones, often came with expectations that the image be a favorable likeness of the sitter. Self-portraiture removed those restrictions enabling artists to be more experimental.
The exhibition and related events are presented by the City of Carson Fine Arts and Historical Commission and the Instructionally Related Activities Committee of the Associated Students, Inc.
(above: Chuck Close, American b. 1940, Alex, 1992, color woodcut on laid paper, 23 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches. Collection purchase 1993.96. Courtesy of the Syracuse University Art Collection)
Close was born in Monroe Wisconsin, leaving the state in 1958 to earn a Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington, Seattle in 1962. From there he studied under Gabor Peterdi at Yale where he received an MFA in 1964. His first major print exhibition was held at the Museum of Modern Art in 1973 where he showed a large mezzotint portrait and its 19 progressive proofs. A spinal blood clot in 1988 left the artist a quadriplegic and many thought his career was over. He adapted to the situation, altered his style and maintained his position as one of America's most important contemporary artists. Alex, is a portrait of the artist Alex Katz, a contemporary and friend of Close. This print was the first project Close worked on after his illness.
(above: Barbara Morgan, American 1900-1992, Ansel Adams in Morgan's Studio, 1942, gelatin silver print, 12 3/4 x 17 1/4 inches. gift of William L. Hutton 1984.157. Courtesy of the Syracuse University Art Collection)
Morgan grew up in Southern California, attended UCLA, married a photographer/publisher
in 1925 and soon after began to make her own photographs. She is best
known for her dance photography, especially her images of Martha Graham
and her modern dance company. This portrait of Ansel Adams appears
to be part of a series Morgan made when Adams, Beaumont Newhall, and Morgan's
husband Willard were in her studio.
"The Artist Revealed" - National Portrait Show Puts Best Face Forward
by Joanie Harmon-Whetmore
"The Artist Revealed," an exhibition on loan from the Syracuse University Art Collection, brings together media ranging from painting to sculpture that examines artists' self-portraits as well as their portrayals of other artists, actors, writers and musicians.
An opening reception will launch the show on Feb. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the University Art Gallery at CSU Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). A tour of the exhibit, led by artist and educator Linda Jo Russell from the Otis College of Art and Design, will be held during the evening at 6 p.m. "The Artist Revealed" runs through March 7.
"We have been fortunate to borrow other exhibits from Syracuse and have a great rapport," says Kathy Zimmerer, director, University Art Gallery, who presented "Modernist Prints 1900-1955: Selections from the Syracuse University Art Collection" on the CSUDH campus in 2000. "Because the exhibit includes both historic and contemporary images by major artists, it was the perfect fit for our students, faculty, and community audience."
Works by Milton Avery, Chuck Close, Leonard Baskin, Edward Steichen, Norman Rockwell, and Anders Zorn are featured, as well as portraits of James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Eakins, Charlie Chaplin, C.S. Lewis, and Pablo Casals.
"A great portrait is timeless -- witness the eternal power of Leonardo da Vinci's magnificent image of Mona Lisa," says Zimmerer. "A great portrait conveys the personality of the sitter through details that are seamlessly knit together, whether it is the skillful modeling of the face, the intensity of the gaze, the accuracy of the pose or the overall impression of vitality and immediacy."
According to Zimmerer, traditional portraiture, which is expected to be flattering to the sitter, can become more than just a favorable likeness in the hands of a gifted artist.
"An artist with a genius for portraiture captures the spark of life," she says, "whether it is a businessman or an artist they are portraying, for example, the Dutch painter Frans Hals' exuberant portraits of wealthy merchants.
"Many artists who are great portraitists were forced to take commissions to make money although they preferred other subject matter," she notes. "For example, the incredibly incisive portraits by the French painter Jean Dominique Ingres still resonate while his Neo-Classical compositions are now considered vapid."
As for self-portraits, Zimmerer notes that, "A self-portrait is an artist's opportunity to make a statement, a visual diary of their life. With some artists, their own image is among the most intriguing of their oeuvre and gives us a deep window into their soul, such as the passionate works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Degas."
The exhibition and related events are presented by the City of Carson Fine Arts and Historical Commission and the Instructionally Related Activities Committee of the Associated Students, Inc.
Admission is free to all gallery events. The campus is located at 1000 E. Victoria Street in the city of Carson near the junction of the Harbor, Artesia and San Diego freeways. Visitor parking permits may be purchased for $3.00 at the yellow dispensing machines at the front of each campus lot. The University Art Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. For more information, call (310) 243-3334 or go to cla.csudh.edu/dnp/art_gallery/contactus.asp.
Editor's note: The above article by Joanie Harmon-Whetmore first appeared in Dominguez Dateline
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