Jean Fouquet French, 14201480

1
Jean Fouquet (French, 1420-1480)

• Biographical intrigue attaches this
  self-portrait to the frame surrounding the two
  panels below, one of which depicts the King's
  Treasurer and the other, the King's Mistress
• Research potential good materials on Northern
  Renaissance art and the artist's place in court
  life plenty of information on the protagonists
  involved.
• Fascinating Imagery takes on the challenge of
  verisimilitude - note the crisp hyper-reality of
  Etienne Chevalier and his patron saint Stephen
  now notice the blood dripping from saint
  Stephen's head! also marvel at the presentation
  of the King's mistress as the Virgin Mary. What
  is Fouquet stating by including his self-portrait
  here?
• If you like van Eyck, youll like Fouquet.

2
Botticelli (Italian, 1445-1510)

• Biographical intrigue includes a self-portrait
  in the far right of this Adoration of the Magi
  which presents several generations of the wealthy
  banking Medici family as the Magi.
• Research potential great documentation on the
  Medicis, plenty of Botticelli, even more on
  Renaissance Florence.
• Fascinating imagery turns out the Medicis didn't
  even commission this piece, a minor official did.
  Consider the conceptual leap it takes to
  represent contemporary secular figures as
  biblical sacred figures. Is Botticelli being
  pious or sacriligeous by including himself here?
• If you like classic Renaissance art, youll like
  Botticelli.

3
Giorgione (Italian, 1477-1510)

• Biographical intrigue remains one of the more
  enigmatic painters of the Italian Renaissance
  paints in a very lyrical sfumato (smoky) style
  the meanings of many of his paintings remain a
  mystery.
• Research potential many scholars have tried to
  figure out Giorgione, so plenty of interesting
  theories to read through another great
  Renaissance resource.
• Fascinating imagery the gaze of the
  self-portrait seems particularly confrontational
  for such a lyrical painter - note the contrast
  with a more typical Giogrione painting, the
  reclining Venus. Is the painter taking a critical
  stance to his own work?
• If you liked Parimigianino, youll like Giorgione.

4
Lavinia Fontana (Italian, 1552-1614)

• Biographical intrigue another Italian woman
  artist beating the odds and claiming her
  creativity using visual puns and jokes, all the
  while painting portraits of the wealthy.
• Research potential a great deal of interest of
  late in the emergence of women artists, so lots
  of good, current scholarship good biographical
  information is also available on Fontana
• Fascinating imagery the question of womens
  creativity is still a very hot one - is it any
  different than mens? why or why not? Why are
  there so many visual puns and allusions
  (illusions?) in womens art in this historical
  period?
• If you liked Sofonisba Anguissola, youll like
  Lavinia Fontana.

5
Samuel van Hoogstraten (Dutch, 1627-1678)

• Biographical intrigue pupil of Rembrandts who
  took off in another direction entirely revelled
  in the trompe loeil, using art and artistry to
  fool the eye always worked to pull the viewer
  into his paintings in mysterious ways
  constructed peep boxes that amazed many.
• Research potential excellent and very thorough
  book on Hoogstraten by a top scholar much has
  also been written about Rembrandt and his studio
• Fascinating imagery it doesnt get much better
  than this in terms of mind-blowing technical
  talent - you will feast your eyes on his visual
  tricks, and wonder why this artist, who is so
  very intrigued by the visual tricks of the eye
  would paint a self-portrait of himself writing
• If you like Rembrandts time period and trompe
  loeil, youll like Hoogstraten (plus youll like
  to say Hoogstraten).

6
Johannes Gumpp (German, active c. 1650)

• Biographical intrigue a relatively minor figure
  in art history, known for this revolutionary
  self-portrait more than anything else a
  mysterious painter who left us with a terrific
  philosophical puzzle of self-perception and
  self-representation
• Research potential this would be the most
  challenging artist to research, but he appears in
  truly interesting texts about mirror imagery and
  self-portraiture.
• Fascinating imagery this self-portrait brings up
  a whole host of absolutely fascinating questions
  concerning the artists authentic self, his
  self-perception, self-representation, the truth
  in painting, etc., etc.
• If you liked Norman Rockwell, youll like Gumpp.

7
Hogarth (English, 1697-1764)

• Biographical intrigue Hogarth is one of the most
  forceful personalities of his age a wry wit, a
  cynical but careful eye to society, and a great
  caring for the fate of art inform his character
  he was active when the court of England was
  considering the creation of an official Academy
  of Art, something this rebellious artist
  resisted.
• Research potential aside from many good books on
  Hogarth, we also have works that he himself
  published, the Line of Beauty (a title inscribed
  on the palette in his self-portrait) lays out
  what he believes about art.
• Fascinating imagery this is one of the more
  humorous and self-deprecating self-portraits in
  our collection - and Hogarth has many surprises
  up his sleeve.
• If you like an artits with a sense of humor,
  youll like Hogarth

8
Adelaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749-1803)

• Biographical intrigue the chief rival of
  Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, this formidable woman was
  admitted into the French Art Academy very early
  in her career. She demured from Vigée-Lebruns
  rebellion and contended herself with painting
  portraits and still-lifes like women were
  supposed to.
• Research potential wherever there is talk of
  Vigée-Lebrun, there is talk of Labille-Guiard -
  the extensive literature on women in art will
  help here.
• Fascinating imagery Labille-Guiard is often
  positioned as the conventional foil to
  Vigée-Lebruns rebellion. And yet, this
  self-portrait makes great claims to dignity,
  tradition, and progeny - was Labille-Guiard
  really such a patsy?
• If you liked Vigée-Lebrun, youll like
  Labille-Guiard.

9
Cézanne (French, 1839-1906)

• Biographical intrigue the transitional figure
  between post-impressionism and abstract art - a
  quiet figure, but a crucial innovator in the
  history of art lived in beautiful
  Aix-en-Provence and Paris and changed both
  places.
• Research potential Cézanne is one of the great
  heroes of modern art, so there is a very rich
  literature on him. Even better, there is ample
  contemporary writing about him in the form of
  letters, art show reviews, etc.
• Fascinating imagery Cézanne was arguably the
  first artist to start taking apart the picture
  plane, to break it down into its visual (rather
  than narrative or even figurative) parts. He is
  often called the painters painter because of
  his close work with paint rather than picture.
• If you would like to study the roots of cubism
  and modern paint in painting, youll like Cézanne.

10
Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945)

• Biographical intrigue galvanized by the
  atrocities of World War I, Kollwitz used her art
  as social protest (the poster down below protests
  WWI with the words Never Again Warand the
  powerful image of a woman). She lost her son in
  the War, and her husband was a doctor - she thus
  witnessed a great deal of the suffering caused by
  the war and used her art to protest it.
• Research potential caught at the crossroads of
  so much history, Kollwitz is often examined in
  scholarship.
• Fascinating imagery one of the first times that
  we see art being used as political activism also
  one of the first times that an artists personal
  convictions are the subject matter of her art.
• If you like the issues surrounding Kirchner,
  youll like Kollwitz.

11
Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954)

• Biographical intrigue Sherman began as a
  photography student and is now one of the most
  prolific art star photographers (she even had a
  cameo appearance in a John Waters film!). She
  constructs multiple biographies by starring in
  (being the model/subject for) different scenarios
  that she then photographs.
• Research potential Sherman has generated a
  tremendous amount of art criticism and
  scholarship. She brings out discussions of women
  playing roles, the stereotypes of female
  characters, and the power of narrative suggestion
  of photography.
• Fascinating imagery photographs look so very
  real, and yet are just as constructed as any
  painting - Sherman drives this point home by
  using her own image - she makes self portraits
  (as opposed to a self-portrait)
• If you like photography, youll like Sherman.

12
Piero Manzoni (Italian, 1933-1963)

• Biographical intrigue by far the most outrageous
  artist that well have the opportunity to study
  this semester, Manzoni was one of the leaders of
  conceptual art, whose most thrilling claim was
  that painting was dead and that art needed to be
  found in new media like living bodies Manzoni
  signed nude bodies and dubbed the Living
  Sculptures - top image - he also canned his own
  excrement - bottom image - and sold it for its
  weight in gold - discuss!
• Research potential Serious scholarship is
  starting to be produced concerning Manzoni -
  there is a sizeable literature on Conceptual Art,
  the revolution Manzoni rode in on.
• Fascinating imagery living sculptures? Shit in a
  can? Need we say more?
• If you like a conceptual challenge, youll like
  Manzoni.