We are continuously fascinated by works of art and the lives of the artists who create them. From the Agony and the Ecstasy to the Girl with a Pearl Earring novelists and filmmakers create their own works based on the lives and works of some of our greatest artists. Recently, Broadway gave us Red, a look at a series of works of Mark Rothko, My Faraway One let us peek at the love letters between Georgia O’Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz, and this month we are given a new perspective on the death of Vincent Van Gogh. For November the book display focuses on the lives of artists: their upbringing, family, personal and professional development, romantic and platonic relationships, and often, end of life.
The first author to write an artists’ biography was Georgio Vasari. First published in 1550, Lives of the Artists gave factual and anecdotal accounts of the Early and High Renaissance artists. Throughout the decades, biographers have looked to many sources to tell the artist’s story, correspondences, close friends, and of course, their paintings. For some such as Frida Kahlo, their lives are inextricably tied to their work. For others such as Caravaggio and Toulouse-Lautrec, their personal lives are as fascinating and poignant as their art. It is the job of the art historian and the casual viewer alike to decide how much s/he want to read into an artist’s works their personal life. Do you think it is possible to have a work stand alone or is a piece of the artist always in his/ her work?
Often taking themselves as subject the artist reflects how s/he sees himself and what parts they wish to show the viewer. This type of autobiography allows writers and art historians to further construct the artist biography and readings of their works. So, can you see the artists in their work hung on the display in the library? The answers are below.
1. Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon, Salvadore Dali, 1941.
2. Self-Portrait (in Drag), Andy Warhol, 1981.
3. Self-Portrait as Baccus, Michaelanglo Merisi de Carravaggio, 1593.
4. Self Portrait with a Sunflower, Anthony van Dyck, 1633.
5. Self Portrait, Francis Bacon, 1973.
6. Self-Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser, Frida Kahlo, 1940.
7. Self Portrait, Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1630.
8. Self-Portrait, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889.
9. Self-Portrait, Pablo Picasso, 1906.
~Display and blog post by Donna Guerin, Reference Associate