Self portrait assignment for MA in Strategic Communication Design at Colorado University Boulder.
Brief
Based on the Wikipedia definition, a self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject or as important characters in their work. With better and cheaper mirrors and the advent of the panel portrait, many painters, sculptors, and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture.
The self-portraits of many contemporary artists and modernists often are characterized by a strong sense of narrative, often but not strictly limited to vignettes from the artists life-story. Sometimes the narrative resembles fantasy, roleplaying and/or fiction.
The self-portrait can be a very effective form of advertising for an artist, especially for a portrait painter. Albrecht Dürer, the German painter, famously depicted himself more than any artist before him, producing at least twelve images from himself and made good use of his extraordinary self-portraits to advertise himself as an artist.
