Self/Relationships Portraits

Why would someone choose to paint a portrait of someone, or even a portrait of themselves (a self-portrait)? What an artist might be included in a portrait? How does an artist choose between faithful representation of a subject, or a more thoughtful representation (omitting certain things, emphasizing others, etc.)

Who Am I? Artists: Francis Bacon Chuck Close

Francis Bacon ( )

Works by Francis Bacon How would you describe your impression of his paintings?

Francis Bacon British painter. Bacon's style refused all the canons of previous Painting, e.g. those related to beauty. He painted provocative and disturbing images that carry a raw sense of anxiety and alienation. They reflect that existential fear, loathing and incomprehension at the atrocities of the Holocaust that came to light at the end of World War Two.

Influences on Francis Bacon Old Spanish master -- Diego Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X(c.1650) Bacon used Velazquez’s work as the basis for his own famous series of "screaming popes." At a time when many artists have lost faith in painting, Bacon maintained his belief in the importance of the medium. Diego Velazquez Portrait of Pope Innocent X (c.1650) Francis Bacon Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X 1953

Influences on Francis Bacon Biomorphic Surrealism’s influences are shown in Bacon’s work Biomorphic forms suggest a relationship to biological or organic forms found in nature but they do not look like a realistic or naturalistic imitation of anything we might see in the real world Joan Miro Harlequin’s Carnival 1924

Influences on Francis Bacon The style of Spanish artist -- Pablo Picasso Bacon’s art was influenced by Picasso’s manipulations of the human form. Picasso’s work made Bacon realised ‘that the only way to make the human form central to art again lay in distorting it’. Picasso Guernica 1937 Picasso Weeping Woman 1937

Bacon admired Picasso: “Picasso was the first person to produce figurative paintings which overturned the rules of appearance; he suggested appearance without using the usual codes, without respecting the representational truth of form, but using a breath of irrationality instead, to make representation stronger and more direct; so that form could pass directly from the eye to the stomach without going through the brain…”

Influences on Francis Bacon Francis Bacon Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion 1944 This work catapulted Bacon to fame when it was exhibited in London in the final weeks of World War Two. The work established many of the themes that would occupy the rest of Bacon’s career -- humanity's capacity for self-destruction and its fate in an age of global war.

Influences on Francis Bacon Studies of figures in action by the early photographer Eadweard Muybridge. From these photographs, Bacon pioneered new ways to suggest movement in painting and brought painting and photography into a more coherent union.

Francis Bacon Self-Portrait 1969 Oil on canvas 35.5 x 30.5 cm

Francis Bacon Self-Portrait 1971 Oil on canvas

Francis Bacon Three Studies for a Self-Portrait 1979/80 Oil on canvas 14 3/4 x 12 1/2 in. (37.5 x 31.8 cm, each component)

More Self-Portraits by Francis Bacon

Chuck Close (Born 1940)

Chuck Close Renowned as one of America’s foremost artists. Noted for his inventive painting methods to depict the human face; best known for his large-scale, photo-based paintings.

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Chuck Close Big Self-Portrait Acrylic on canvas 107 1/2 x 83 1/2 in. ( x 212.1cm)

Chuck Close Self-Portrait/String 1983 Handmade paper pulp in 24 gray values and string

Chuck Close Self-Portrait Oil on canvas

Chuck Close Self-Portrait Woodcut color woodcut Paper size: 35 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches (90.2 x 72.4cm) Image size: 28 x 23 inches (71.1 x 58.4cm)

Chuck Close Self-Portrait Screenprint Silkscreen in 246 colors Paper size: 66 1/2 x 55 inches (168.9 x 139.7cm) Image size: 59 1/2 x 50 inches (151.1 x 127cm)

Influences on Chuck Close Pointillism -- A painting technique in which a white background is covered with tiny dots of pure color that fuse when seen from a distance producing a luminous visual effect.

Influences on Chuck Close Grisaille--A painting technique using only grey tints. Par_nzAEL0 Og6PuWFvE

This picture is more like a mug-shot than a portrait. Why do you think Close chose to make this picture of his wife so impersonal? Chuck Close Leslie/Fingerprint 1986 Direct gravure etching Paper size: 54 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches Image size: 45 5/8 x 37 1/8 inches

Close makes portraits of just faces. What are other ways to make a portrait? Does a portrait have to include a face? Why or why not? What do you think about his use of the grid in these works? Chuck Close Phil/Fingerprint 2009 Screenprint in 25 colors Paper Size: 56 x 44 inches Image Size: 46 x 34 inches

Chuck Close Emma color hand printed ukiyo-e woodcut Paper size: 43 x 35 inches Image size: 36 x 30 inches

Chuck Close In his monumental paintings, Close used a photo realistic technique that showed a lot of detail, he painted mostly himself as well as family and friends. In his more recent work, Close has departed from these camera-like images and moved toward the use of multi-colored squares and diamonds that contain swirls of contrasting hue

Chuck Close He has been exploring the art of printmaking as a part of his artistic inquiry for over 30 years. Chuck uses a grid to transfer his subject from a photograph to a painting or print. By breaking the larger image down into its smaller component parts, he is able to make decisions about the nature and properties of the various colors that he uses in his works. – In his earlier works, Close was careful to hide the grid upon completion, but in his later pieces, the grid has become a visual element of the work itself, and is no longer simply for planning.

Chuck Close's subjects are his family, his friends, himself, and fellow artists whose faces are described through his distinct, meticulous marks. Worked from a gridded photograph to build his images by applying one careful stroke after another in multi-colors or grayscale. For Chuck Close, it is the process of description that renders meaning, rather than the subject itself. Chuck Close -- In Summary

Self-Portraits – Alternative Depictions

Marc Quinn Self 2001 (refrigeration unit and canopy) 2001 Sculpture Blood (artist's), stainless steel, perspex and refrigeration equipment 208H x 63W x 63D cms

No More Tears, Mr Lee Jason Wee

Kyle Bean

Andrew Clawson

Carne Griffiths Use of tea brandy, vodka, whiskey, graphite and calligraphy ink.

References portraits # portraits.html collections/ _bacon.htm

Alternative Portraits For your next Studio Task, conceptualize an alternative portrait about how your ‘self’ can be represented with a purposeful manipulation of material(s)/technique. You must be able to state your intentions and influences that shaped your work. Only requirement: A3 size Share your ideas on Thursday, 7 Feb

Important Dates for Term 1 25 February – Review of preparatory work 7 March – Submission of Studio work