Mirror, mirror Cover Image

Tükröm, tükröm
Mirror, mirror

Possibilities of the Self-Portrait in Contemporary Fine Arts

Author(s): Gizella Horváth
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Visual Arts
Published by: Korunk Baráti Társaság
Keywords: self-portrait; contemporary fine arts; Joseph Beuys; Endre Tót; Anthony McCall

Summary/Abstract: Based on Alberti’s metaphor of painting as Narcissus’s mirror, the essay focuses on three possible meanings of fine arts: similitude, self-knowledge, and the extreme necessity of the Other, as these features appear in the outstanding genre of the self-portrait. The author explores the opportunities of self-portrait in the context of contemporary fine arts, as the rejection of representation seems not to leave any room for portrayal at all. In order to sustain the possibility of portraying without representation, the essay presents a sensible analysis of works of Joseph Beuys, Endre Tót and Anthony McCall.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 09
  • Page Range: 20-28
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Hungarian