TY - BOOK AU - Hall,James TI - The self-portrait: a cultural history SN - 9780500239100 AV - N7618 .H35 2014 PY - 2014/// CY - New York, New York PB - Thames & Hudson KW - Self-portraits KW - Artists KW - Portraits KW - Art appreciation KW - History N1 - "120 illustrations, 109 in color."; Contains bibliographic references (page 283) and index; -- Medieval origins; -- A craze for mirrors; -- The artist in society; -- The renaissance artist as hero; -- Mock-heroic self-portraits; -- The artist's studio; -- At the crossroads; -- Coming home : into the nineteenth century; -- Sex and genius; -- Beyond the face : modern and contemporary self-portraits N2 - In this broad cultural survey, art historian and critic James Hall brilliantly maps the history of self-portraiture, from the earliest myths of Narcissus to the prolific self-image-making of contemporary artists. His intelligent and vivid account shows how artists' depictions of themselves have been part of a continuing tradition that reaches back for centuries. Along the way he reveals the importance of the medieval 'mirror craze'; the explosion of the genre during the Renaissance; the confessional self-portraits of Titian and Michelangelo; the role of biography for serial self-portraitists such as Courbet and van Gogh; themes of sex and genius in works by Munch, Bonnard and Modersohn-Becker; and the latest developments of the genre in the era of globalization. The full range of self-portraits is covered here, from comic and caricature self-portraits to 'invented' or imaginary ones, as well as key collections of self-portraiture such as that of the Medici in Florence. Throughout, Hall asks why - and when - artists have chosen to make self-portraits, and looks deeply into the worlds and mindsets of the artists who have created them. Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated, the book features the work of a wide range of artists including Alberti, Caravaggio, Courbet, Dürer, Emin, Gauguin, Giotto, Goya, Kahlo, Koons, Magritte, Mantegna, Picasso, Raphael, Rembrandt and Warhol. Offering a rich and lively history, The Self-Portrait is an essential read for all those interested in this most enduringly popular and humane of art forms.--Publisher ER -