Art History Course | Circles of Influence: Artists Amongst Artists

In our first session Circles of Influence: Artists Amongst Artists, Melanie Vandenbrouck, Chief Curator at Pallant House Gallery, will introduce key themes from Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists, delving into how artists have related to one another across time—through their art training, shared styles, schools, and collaborative circles and shared values.

Colin Wiggins, artist and former Special Projects Curator at the National Gallery, will explore the enduring power of self-portraiture. This genre offers important context for understanding how artists present and perceive themselves within the broader history of art.

When Van Gogh made his famous Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, he was following a long tradition of artists representing themselves. From medieval monks including their own images in the pages of illuminated manuscripts, to painters such as Durer, Rembrandt and Caravaggio, artists have frequently depicted themselves in a variety of different guises. During the Renaissance they would even portray themselves in sacred altarpieces. Nearer to our own time, figures such as Lucian Freud or Francis Bacon have also turned their scrutiny onto themselves. This talk will ask why self-portraits are such a common theme in the history of art.