National Portrait Gallery
Reflections-Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century
April 10, 2009 – August 16, 2009
heart-solid Added to My Visit heart-solid-slash Removed from My Visit
Reflections-Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century Added
Reflections-Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century
Removed
This exhibition of approximately 75 works probes the complex issues of understanding identity in the past century. Included in the exhibition are self portraits by such diverse artists as Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, Louise Nevelson, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Chuck Close, Larry Rivers, Jacob Lawrence, and Faith Ringgold. While the works by these artists reveals traditional themes, including impersonation, reinvention, self-consciousness, vanity, and the complex game of seeing a mirrored image, the exhibition also explores how issues of identity and self-portrayal were bent in new directions in the 20th century as if refracted through a prism.
Related Book: Reflections-Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century