Bibliography

Books:

Keller, C., Blessing, J. and Bryan-Wilson, J., 2011. Francesca Woodman. San Francisco, Calif.: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Bright, S., 2010. Auto focus. New York: Monacelli Press.

Elger, D., Obrist, H. U., 2008. Gerhard Richter. Text 1961 bis 2007, Schriften, Interviews, Briefe. Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König

Obrist, H.U., 1995. Gerhard Richter- The Daily Practice of Painting. London: Thames and Hudson

Renaldi, R. and Cole, T. (n.d.). Touching strangers. New York: Aperture

Journals:

Adams, T., 1996. Beyond mastery: Richter distrusts the perfection of his own art. New Statesman [online][viewed 4 May 2015]. Available from: Academic OneFile

Merriman, B., Seeder, A., 2013. Introduction: Vivian Maier. Chicago Review[online], vol.57, p. 102 [viewed 1 May 2015]. Available from: Academic OneFile

Riches, H., 2004. A Disappearing Act: Francesca Woodman’s “Portrait of a reputation”. Oxford Art Journal[online], Vol.27, no.1, p.97[viewed 30 April 2015]. Available from: jstor

Websites:

Fox, A., 2015. Super Snacks [online][viewed 28 April 2015]. Available from: http://www.annafox.co.uk/work/super-snacks/ [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015].

Goepel, C., n.d. Selfish [online][viewed 3 Mai 2015]. Available from: http://www.cenci.de

Haje Cantz Verlag, n.d. Unscharf nach Gerhard Richter [online][viewed 5 May 2015]. Available from: http://www.hatjecantz.de/unscharf-2695-0.html

Richter, G., n.d. Foto Bilder[online][viewed 5 May 2015]. Available from: https://www.gerhard-richter.com/de/quotes/subjects-2/photo-paintings-12

Tate, n.d.Francesca Woodman [online][viewed 30 April 2015]. Available from:http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesca-woodman-10512

Exhibitions:

Peder Balke, 12.11. 2014-12.4.2015, National Gallery, London

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London, 13.11.2014-22.2.2015

 

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter, Junge Frau (young woman), 1965

Gerhard Richter is an artist who works within many different mediums. His works include drawings, watercolor and oil paintings as well as photographs, painted over the top.

One thing that Gerhard Richter is known for, is the way he used blurring in many of his paintings. This is a technique, that fits in with Richter’s mentality of not adapting to any conventions or unspoken guidelines.

Blurriness can mean many things. It can be romantic and nostalgic, disguise and distract and create mystery (haje cantz verlag, n.d.). It can even lead to a complete unrecognizability of the subject and thereby make the subject anonymous.

A blurred picture can spark an interest and fascination in a potential viewer, who wants to find out more about it. However not knowing what is depicted and having to guess can also irritate and annoy someone, who is used to an artwork telling him, what it is, instead of him having to guess. He may also feel overwhelmed by what is suddenly demanded of him.

When asked why most of his paintings looked like blurred photographs, he explained that a blurred image is much more open, it leaves more room for interpretation and doesn’t force the viewer to see certain things  (Richter, 1973).

Richter paints a lot of his portraits from photographs. He said that the painter would absolutely not need to know the sitter/subject, he certainly would not be able to capture the sitter’s personality and “soul” and therefore nobody should attempt to paint from real life people (Richter, 1966). This brought me to reconsider the way I feel about my photograph. Before I saw my final photograph in a way like a “photographic” painting, since it is basically only a collection of colors. The process of making it belongs to photography, but the outcome seems like a painting. I still like the image, because it represents a bit of “the essence of my person” but now I also see somebody else, an unfamiliar person that is not me. Somebody that has been created by the camera on the foundation of myself, but has nothing in common with me. In that way I extended my understanding of the photograph on the foundation of Richter’s “theory”, but as a result I contradict him when he says that “photography is there for conveying information about reality” (Richter, 1966).

Books:

Elger, D., Obrist, H. U., 2008. Gerhard Richter. Text 1961 bis 2007, Schriften, Interviews, Briefe. Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König

Obrist, H.U., 1995. Gerhard Richter- The Daily Practice of Painting. London: Thames and Hudson

Journals:

Adams, T., 1996. Beyond mastery: Richter distrusts the perfection of his own art. New Statesman [online][viewed 4 May 2015]. Available from: Academic OneFile

Websites:

Haje Cantz Verlag, n.d. Unscharf nach Gerhard Richter [online][viewed 5 May 2015]. Available from: http://www.hatjecantz.de/unscharf-2695-0.html

Richter, G., n.d. Foto Bilder[online][viewed 5 May 2015]. Available from: https://www.gerhard-richter.com/de/quotes/subjects-2/photo-paintings-12

Cenci Goepel

by Cenci Goepel

 

Cenci Goepel does self-portraits which she calls “Selfishs”. They are portraits of her, digitally manipulated, so that only the facial expressions remain, putting emphasis on their importance as carriers of “emotion, culture and communication” (Goepel, n.d.).

Something I applied to my way of taking self-portraits was that I do not aspire to smile. This doesn’t mean that I can’t, but more that I do not make myself smile and thereby “pose”. Goepel said that when she began modifying photographs of herself, she had only ones of her smiling. This meant that the range of emotions and expressions to work with was limited.

It is interesting, to look at the way Goepel names her self-portraits: “Selfish(s)”. Selfish, a word that has a very negative connotation, meaning egotistical, self-centered or simply “thinking only of oneself” (after Thesaurus online dictionary). It certainly emphasizes the word “self”. To most people their self, their “me” is something very delicate or at least something that needs to be protected against outside “attacks”. This could be someone disapproving of the way you look, calling you out as stupid or doubting your stories. Defense strategies include conforming to other and trying “to fit in” as well as trying to make yourself as invisible as possible so as to not attract attention. Goepel however does the complete opposite. She isn’t afraid to turn her face into something that might be seen as a bit scary or even ugly looking and doesn’t conform with the society’s standards. What I mean by that, is that she puts the identity of a person before their physical appearance and also shows us that so much can be learned from a face even if it doesn’t conform with your idea of beauty (Goepel, n.d.).

 

 

Sources:

Goepel, C., n.d. Selfish [online][viewed 3 Mai 2015]. Available from: http://www.cenci.de

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman, House #3, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976

Francesca Woodman’s self-portraits show her, often naked, in a space.

The most memorable of Woodman’s photographs are for me the ones from her earlier work, in which she is seen hiding behind wallpaper. This is an important reoccurrence in her self-portraits. The artist often shows herself half hidden in a cupboard, standing in the corner,barely noticeable, covered with a big plastic bag. She seems to blend in with her environment. Other times she used long or double exposures to make her body look like a ghost, like it’s not completely there. This is very interesting when you consider that someone takes a photograph of themselves and exposes themselves to the camera but hides so as to make the camera to not see them. It makes them look vulnerable and shy. In my work I have hidden as well. After I had decided not to pursue the idea of wearing my father’s jumper, I still carried on wearing it in a few of my “simple” self-portraits. Some show me sitting on the sofa, facing down and the jumper stretched over my tucked up legs. But while I felt like hiding under clothes or figuratively behind my father, Woodman is completely naked. She has chosen to appear vulnerable but at the same time blends in with her environment without distracting clothes.

Space is also something of importance in Woodman’s work. The rooms she is posing in often seem to be abandoned houses, once occupied by their owners, but now run-down and shabby. They show signs of destruction, maybe depicting the artists state of mind, certainly mystifying and sometimes disturbing the viewer (Tate, n.d.).

Sources:

Keller, C., Blessing, J. and Bryan-Wilson, J., 2011. Francesca Woodman. San Francisco, Calif.: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Tate, n.d.Francesca Woodman [online][viewed 30 April 2015]. Available from:http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesca-woodman-10512

Riches, H., 2004. A Disappearing Act: Francesca Woodman’s “Portrait of a reputation”. Oxford Art Journal[online], Vol.27, no.1, p.97[viewed 30 April 2015]. Available from: jstor

Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier was a nanny/photographer whose photographs have only recently been discovered in an auction.

In many of her street portraits the camera is close to the subject, however it doesn’t seem like people care about Maier’s presence or are even aware of it. It might have been true that she didn’t attract much attention as a single middle aged woman walking around (Merriman and Seeder, 2013). Her attire consisting of long coats and hats may also have been a contributing factor.

What can be seen, amongst other things, is how little we actually know about a person in a portrait. We look at one of her many self-portraits and see a middle aged woman pointing a camera at a mirror or other reflective surface. In some photographs you get the impression of a mother or aunt just stopping for quick snapshot of herself, while out with the family. We, as the viewer, have no idea of the massive amount of photographs she took.

Maier’s work also raises the question of why we take self-portraits. You might argue that this an act of vanity and also shows a rather controlling nature. Instead of letting somebody else tell you what to do and how to look, you have full control and can choose in what way you might portray yourself. Maier, however, seemed to simply want to capture herself within different environments and didn’t pose in a particular way, most of the time she looks serious and never smiles. Still her photographs look very interesting since she is not standing alone in front of a mirror, but rather incorporates into the scenery around her, thereby giving us access to it.

What we know about Vivian Maier is, that she never intended to show her photographs to anyone and was just making them for herself. This is a really important if you want to be a good and true photographer, in my opinion. You shouldn’t make work to please other people or to follow a trend,  you can only call yourself an artist when you create work because you want to, because you need to. I partly learned this in my project, after I had been told that the images I shot without thinking about it, were much more interesting, than the ones I made to “fit the assignment”. Forcing myself to create something, didn’t work out.

Merriman, B., Seeder, A., 2013. Introduction: Vivian Maier. Chicago Review[online], vol.57, p. 102 [viewed 1 May 2015]. Available from: Academic OneFile