Love Your SelfieHistory, Purpose, and Project
Is a “selfie” new?
The selfie is a smartphone-produced version of the self-portrait, which has been a staple of art and photography history since artists first began seeing examining their own images in the mirror.
“Selfies” are actually Self Portraits but, why are they a thing and why have they always been a thing?
Skill building- drawing, painting, photography, sculpture
Self Studies Self exploration Exploration of ideas with the most available
model Documentation Etc.
“Obviously, self-portraiture is an expressive outlet that can lead an artist down many different roads. But a successful self-portrait, like any other piece of art, starts with a meaningful, sincere idea from the artist. Self-expression isn’t any one thing. It can be geared toward a realistic depiction of your face and physicality, or less so. Most of all, artists need to push to design and imagine without limits, strengthening their own creative points of view.” - Courtney Jordan
http://www.artistdaily.com/blogs/artistdaily/archive/2013/05/10/what-artists-reveal-with-self-portraits.aspx
Portrait of a Man, Jan Van Eyck, 1433
15th Century
Mirrors in ancient times were typically just small pools of collected water with the vessel containing the water having a dark color to it.
As early as 6000 BC in Turkey people started manufacturing non-water mirrors. These early mirrors were usually made of obsidian, which is a naturally occurring volcanic glass. These pieces of obsidian would be cut appropriately and highly polished to give off a reflection.
Mirror History
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/05/the-first-mirrors-were-simply-water-placed-in-a-darkly-colored-vessel/
Around 4000 BC, the first polished copper mirrors started showing up in Mesopotamia. Around 2000 BC, the Chinese began manufacturing similar bronze mirrors.
Fast forward to around the 16th century in Venice, and we see the first examples of glass mirrors with tin-mercury backings, which produced reflections very similar in quality to the mirrors we have today. These mirrors were ridiculously expensive due to their high quality, expensive materials, and how fragile they were for the types of transport available at the time.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/05/the-first-mirrors-were-simply-water-placed-in-a-darkly-colored-vessel/
Eventually, the French succeeded in learning how the Venetian glass makers made the mirrors and once they started producing them, it drastically lowered the price of mirrors in Western Europe.
The silvered-glass mirrors we use today were invented by German Chemist Justus von Liebig in 1835. He was able to create an extremely thin layer of silver on glass through the chemical reduction of silver nitrate. This process led to greater availability of affordable mirrors, making high quality mirrors available to the masses for the first time in history.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/05/the-first-mirrors-were-simply-water-placed-in-a-darkly-colored-vessel/
Albrecht DürerLate 15th Early 16th Century
Age 22 Age 26 Age 28Year: 1498 Year: 1498 Year: 1500
16th CenturyLeonardo da Vinci Self Portrait, 1512
17th CenturyEl Greco, 1604
SELF PORTRAIT WITH GORGET AND BERETc. 1629
17th Century
SELF PORTRAIT WITH A WIDE-BRIMMED HAT1632
SELF PORTRAIT WITH TWO CIRCLEc. 1665-1669
Rembrandt van Rijn
18th Century Vigée Le Brun
1789
1790
1794
19th CenturyVincent Van Gogh, 1889
20th CenturyFrida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo
20th Century Cindy Sherman
Untitled #96, 1981
Untitled #14, 1978
Cindy Sherman “History Portraits”
Untitled #137. 1984
Untitled #95. 1981
Untitled #458. 2007–08Untitled #359. 2000
Cindy ShermanMartin SchoellerDigital C-print, 2000
Portrait of Cindy Sherman
Samuel FossoLate 20th Century
“The Golf Player,” 1997.“Self-Portraits from the 1970s,” 1977.
Samuel Fosso“Emperor of Africa,” 2013.
“Le r
êve d
e m
on g
ran
d-p
ère
,” 2
003.
“Sam
uel Fo
sso,
Self-P
ort
rait
,” 1
999.
“Afr
ican S
pir
its,
” 2008.
Jen Davis
2002
2003
21st Century
Jen Davis
2005 2005
Jen Davis
20032005
Jen Davis
2013
2005
2010
How to take a “selfie”
Hold the camera/phone yourself and play around with angles.
USE A TIMER ON THE CAMERA If you don’t know how to do this, ask
No, you may not let anyone take the photo for you- because then it is not your photo- it is theirs.
To get more ideas
Google: Photography Self Portrait
Do not use the word “selfie” unless you are looking for duck face and bathroom shots.
No, just no.
http://digital-photography-school.com/18-stunning-self-portraits/
18 Self Portraits to Inspire
Love Your Selfie Project Research ideas: look online and get inspired! Draw 10 thumbnail sketches to get ideas: Due
Friday, December 5th Make a series of MEANINGFUL AND SINCERE
self portraits in the same setting at multiple angles- at least 5 different angles.
Ulitize: Rule of Thirds, Rule of Simplicity, Strong Tonal Range- Good Lighting, Line, Texture, etc.
More on Love Your Selfie Project
•You will be making a contact sheet of your entire photo-shoot. Take multiple photos of the same view. I must see your out-takes!
•You will submit:
• 1 photo in black & white and 1 in
color
•Unedited photos due Monday,
December 8th
•Edited Photos due Thursday,
December 11th
Contact Sheet
Scholarship Opportunity- Let’s do this!
Register on artandwriting.org now! Your work could be shown at CSUSB! Choose a photo you would like to
submit. You’ll receive extra credit for
submitting a photograph!
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