500 Self-Portraits [Hardcover]

Julian Bell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2000

Taking its inspiration from the Phaidon volume published in 1937 with the same title, this book presents, without commentary, 500 of the world's greatest self-portraits, arranged in a chronological sequence from ancient Egypt to the late 20th century. Included are works by many of the world's greatest painters and sculptors, such as Durer, Rembrandt, Picasso and Andy Warhol. Each image is both a work of art and a study in psychology and self-perception - an idea taken up by the book's mirrored jacket, where the reader's own face becomes the 501st self-portrait.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Pensive, haughty, scruffy, scowling, clowning, vamping--artists have always reveled in the inventive freedom of portraying themselves. Younger painters lacking paying sitters often made good use of a mirror and a talent for making faces. Older painters--most famously, Rembrandt--searched beneath their own sagging flesh for the essence of a survivor.

Beginning with its reflective book jacket, which playfully inducts the reader into the ranks of self-portraitists, Five Hundred Self-Portraits is a delight for browsers. Works by famous and obscure artists from the Middle Ages to our own times are organized chronologically, one per page, in this compact volume. The early images demonstrate how self-portraiture evolved from walk-ons (the artist as a bystander in a Nativity scene, say) and occasional co-starring roles (the artist as St. Luke, drawing the Virgin Mary) to full-fledged personal appearances by the likes of Dürer and Leonardo.

More than half of the images in the book were painted (or drawn or etched or photographed) during the 19th and 20th centuries. The stiff decorum of earlier periods gave way to a romantic introspection that evolved into neurotic self-absorption and frank exhibitionism. From Gustave Courbet, posing languorously with eyes closed and blood-spotted collar as The Wounded Man, to Jenny Saville, gripping a thick roll of fat on her graffiti-scrawled nude body, artists of the past 150 years have developed a repertory of dramatic strategies for self-display. But few are as quietly effective as 18th-century painter Joshua Reynolds. He peers out at us, one hand shading his eyes, as if dazzled by the blaze of his own genius. --Cathy Curtis

Product Details

• Hardcover: 548 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press; 2nd edition (January 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714839590
• ISBN-13: 978-0714839592
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,365,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indispensible Art Library Addition, April 24, 2001

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 500 Self-Portraits (Hardcover)

This small scale (though weighty) tome is a compact , wide-ranging survey of Western art in the most personal of terms - self portraits of artists both well known and obscure. The brief essay by Julian Bell sets the overture tone for this enlightening stroll through art history from 2350 BC to 1997 AD. And though we know well the self portraits of Rembrandt, Durer, van Gogh, Andy Warhol, and Cindy Sherman, it is a pleasure to explore the vast frescoes of the Middle Ages and the commissioned paintings of the Renaissance and find subtle artist self portraits in the crowd scenes! Another aspect of this important survey is the inclusion of women painters from history and recent past/present. We all know the stature of Artemisia Gentileschi, but who has had the pleasure of viewing Judith Leyster, Sofonisba Anguissola, Catharina van Hemessen, Elisabeth- Louise Vigee-Lebrun in context with Goya, Velasquez, Carravagio, Whistler, Ingre, Freud, Bacon, Saville, etc.? The reproductions are rich, intimate, often enhanced by well-cropped details if the painter's image is one face in a huge canvas. How better to take quietly study art development, technique, subject matter, social commentary than to slowly page though this engrossing collections of artists as they viewed themselves. Buy this book, before it goes out of print!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple but very satisfying, April 19, 2001

By 

F. Orion Pozo "Orion Pozo" (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 500 Self-Portraits (Hardcover)

This is a simple book but very satisfying. There is very little text. The 6 page Introduction by Julian Bell is the only narrative but it is a wonderful introduction to the subject of self-portraiture in western art. Each picture has a brief caption that lists the artist, her/his birth and death dates, title and date, a brief description of materials and size, and the location of the original. The portraits are arranged in the book in rough chronological order. At the end of the book is an index by artist and a list of acknowledgements.

Each page consists of one self portrait as large as the page will allow with its caption description. One of the drawbacks to the book is that it is only 4.5" x 7", and the reproductions are small as a result. A larger format would have allowed for larger prints but would have cost more to produce.

Sadly, the work limits itself primarily to western art and I was left wondering about the role of self portraiture in African and Asian art. Outside minor limitations of physical size and scope of coverage, the book is exquisite candy to the eye and mind.

By century, the works break down as follows: 24th c. B.C.E. - 1; 9th c. - 1; 11th c. - 1; 12th c. - 1, 14th c. - 4; 15th c. - 35; 16th c. - 57; 17th c. - 78; 18th c. - 57; 19th c. - 89; 20th c. - 193. The compilers put all of an artists self portraits side by side. There are 10 Rembrandts, 4 Van Goghs, and 4 Picassos. There are also 45 self portraits by women.

Geographically, the artists are from 36 countries. 26 of these countries are in Europe, 4 are in the Western Hemisphere, 3 countries are in the Middle East, 2 are in Africa and one in Asia. The index in the back of the book lists the countries the artists were born in or worked in, as well as their occupations and specialties. The countries represented are Armenia, Austria, Belorussia, Bohemia, Britain, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, Finland, Flemish Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Moravia, The Netherlands, North Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

I would have liked to have read this book with an encyclopedia of artists at hand. This is a valuable addition to any art library. Highly recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enrich your library, March 13, 2003

By 

Judith Hammerquist - See all my reviews

This review is from: 500 Self-Portraits (Hardcover)

I purchased this book as a gift for my father in law, an artist and it was very well recieved. I did not get to peruse it at my leisure becaue it was wrapped in plastic, but once I did I regretted not buying a copy for myself.