Monday, October 4, 2010

About Face: Five Centuries of Self-Portraits


The 19th-century French painter Henri Fantin-Latour once helped explain the draw of self-portraits when he said that "the model is always ready, submissive, and one knows him before painting." How and why great painters represent themselves holds a special fascination for viewers. Is the artist mingled in a crowd or the lone subject? How is he - or she - dressed? Is the self-portrait true or self-promoting? Such topics will be examined by Vivian Gordon from the Education Department of The Metropolitan Museum of Art at Bernardsville Public Library on Tuesday, October 12 at 7:00 pm.

Ms. Gordon will explore different approaches to the self-portrait using examples from the museum’s collection to illustrate her talk. Works from the Renaissance to Pop Art will be discussed and will include paintings by Durer, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Degas, Van Gogh, and Andy Warhol's eerily foretelling Last Self-Portrait.

There is no charge to attend the program, but advance sign-up is requested. Register online at http://www.bernardsvillelibrary.org/ and follow the link under Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.
*Rembrandt Self-Portrait (1660)
*Photo by Photograph Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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