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

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003.

“Sam

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“Afr

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” 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!