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Apr 27, 2018 · Albrecht Dürer. Self-portrait, 1500. Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Albrecht Dürer. Self-Portrait, 1493. Museo Nacional del Prado. The German Renaissance master was only 13 years old when he drew his first self-portrait. As a 22-year-old, after completing his formal artistic training, he painted himself as a young man on the brink of a ...
- Overview
- Vivian Maier
- Paula Modersohn-Becker
- Loïs Mailou Jones
- Judith Leyster
- Frida Kahlo
- Zanele Muholi
These deeply personal self-portraits did more than just mirror the artists—they sparked meaningful social conversations.
Selfies have taken over social media newsfeeds, filling screens with snapshots of people striking perfect poses in sublime settings, laughing with friends, or caught in quiet moments alone. These images appear inescapable, and in today’s social media-driven ecosystem, they’re often seen as self-indulgent or fueled by a need for affirmation and acceptance. But a deeper look at the practice shows the potential for an honest portrayal of one’s truest self—one that can make strong social statements, claim spaces, and communicate messages bigger and broader than the people bold enough to turn the lens on themselves.
Self-portraiture isn’t a byproduct of the smart phone. Since as early as the 15th century, women artists across different mediums used self-portraits as a way to meditate on the world around them and their places within it. More than just capturing physical features, self-portraits allow artists to channel their beliefs into their work in ways that are revealing and revolutionary, ultimately memorializing the woman and her story. Their art is both deeply personal and broadly relatable, giving readers an intimate look at a particular place and time and providing a platform to find common ground.
In many ways, these six women did more than just create art: They helped give way to a generation of voices around the world.
An American street photographer born in New York City, Vivian Maier is considered to be one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. Her craft was her life, though she supported herself by working as a nanny for families in New York and then Chicago. Despite her artistic legacy and narrative influence on picturemaking, little is known about Maier.
Yet the discovery of 100,000 of Maier’s negatives and slides in 2007 offers clues to a woman compelled to photographing life on the street, capturing the poor and marginalized. Maier was often her own subject, photographing herself in mirrors, shop windows, and other reflective surfaces. In some, she discreetly made the pictures, almost as if she was spying on herself; in others, her expressionless face is front and center.
Google honored the 142nd birthday of Paula Modersohn-Becker with a doodle this past February, growing the influence of this German artist, starting with her recognition as the first woman to paint a nude self-portrait, which she created in 1906.
While her legacy is rooted in her bravado to depict herself in a way no woman had done before, Modersohn-Becker is equally celebrated for pioneering the modernist movement of the 20th century along with artists like Henri Matisse. Her parents wanted her to be a teacher, and unbeknownst to them, Modersohn-Becker’s works would go on to teach and inspire scholars and artists for generations to come.
Though Loïs Mailou Jones is mostly known for her watercolors and oil works, the Boston native made a mark exploring the duality of her identity, particularly in her own self-portrait. Much of her work from the 1930s features portraits of black Americans, part of a larger movement to illustrate the African-American experience while paying homage to African culture through her colors and form.
It wasn’t until 1940 that Jones cast herself as the subject of her own work, connecting her identity to traditional African culture. Though she explored her connection to Africa in much of her work, Jones was 65 when she first visited the continent, nearly 30 years after she produced her famous portrait.
Judith Leyster’s paintings were perpetually kinetic, illustrating scenes of one or two figures in joyous situations or capturing the energy of kids at play. Yet amongst the activity that jumps from much of Leyster’s work, her self-portrait is among one of her most attention-grabbing pieces, a departure from many renderings, particularly those of female artists, at the time.
Her work was largely unknown, and at times much of it was attributed to male artists who were active at the time; however, centuries later, Leyster has come to the surface as one of the foremost female artists of her generation: a bold, daring woman claiming a space for herself in a male-dominated industry.
It’s nearly impossible to talk about female artists famous for their self-portraits without mentioning Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist whose unibrow and slight mustache are known the world over. She was the star of her own show, and she used her creativity to highlight and applaud varying features of indigenous Mexican culture. Kahlo would paint hers...
A photographer who used her art as a platform to advocate for the LGBTQ community in South Africa, Zanele Muholi began her career documenting those around her before becoming her own subject. Her project, maID, is an ongoing series of black-and-white self-portraits reflecting historic political events throughout South Africa’s history. For Muholi, ...
- The Desperate Man – Gustave Courbet. Gustave Courbet’s self-portrait is one of the most renowned and iconic self-portraits ever produced. The artist, Gustave Courbet, is shown in this 1845 picture with a stressed-out expression that seems to be riveted on the observer.
- Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird – Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo is regarded as one of Mexico’s most illustrious and influential female painters and cultural leaders.
- Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk – Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci is recognized as an artist who mastered the human form. One of da Vinci’s masterpieces, dubbed the Vitruvian Man, has long been hailed as the most significant depiction of human anatomy ever created.
- Self-Portrait at the Age of Twenty Eight – Albrecht Dürer. Albrecht Dürer’s Self-Portrait (or Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight) is a panel painting from the German Renaissance.
- Albrecht Dürer. German printmaker Albrecht Dürer is renowned for his highly detailed woodcuts, etchings, and engravings, but in fact, the Northern Renaissance artist also created several important self-portraits throughout his life.
- Leonardo da Vinci. Created circa 1512, Leonardo da Vinci‘s Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk is widely believed to be a rare self-portrait of the master artist.
- Gustave Courbet. Titled The Desperate Man, this piece by realist painter Gustave Courbet remains his most well-known self-portrait. Completed in 1845, The Desperate Man combines elements of Romanticism—a style that was prominent until the middle of the 19th century—and Realism, a movement that would eventually be pioneered by Courbet.
- Claude Monet. Featuring the Impressionist artist‘s signature beret and beard, this self-portrait of Claude Monet was painted in 1886. Self–Portrait with a Beret showcases Monet's distinctively blurred brushstrokes, compositional use of unpainted canvas, and expertly-rendered balance between light and dark.
Oct 23, 2019 · The first artwork I remember seeing is a Frida Kahlo self-portrait with a monkey on the artist’s shoulder. I was 14 years old, on my first-ever trip to London and to the Tate Modern. Surely I visited museums before that, but I don’t remember those experiences.
A self-portrait is a portrait of an artist made by themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in 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.
