The Self-Portrait

This visually stunning volume offers perceptive examinations of several renowned German and Austrian Expressionist artists who redefined modern self-portraiture.

The self-portrait has been a vital aspect of artistic expression throughout history. Neo-Classical painters such as El Greco and Rembrandt formalised the practice, and the first half of the 20th century saw a dramatic transformation in the self-portrait's style and context, especially in the hands of the German and Austrian Expressionists. Vibrant reproductions of works by Egon Schiele, Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Oskar Kokoschka, and others are accompanied by essays that explore how these artists—many of whom were classified as "degenerate" by the Nazi party - imbued their images with eloquent expressions of resistance, isolation, entrapment, and provocation. From Schiele's erotically charged and overtly physical paintings to Beckmann's emotionally fraught depictions of psychic trauma, this important examination of a powerful aspect of modern European painting brilliantly illustrates how the Expressionist self-portrait became a powerful weapon against artistic oppression.

Book Features:

• Many major 20th-century German and Austrian Expressionist artists are included in this book, such as Egon Schiele, Max Beckmann, Lyonel Feininger, Richard Gerstl, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Oskar Kokoschka, Paula Modersohn-Becker, and Felix Nussbaum, among others.
• A modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, which originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. It aimed to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality.
• The self-portrait established itself as a genre in visual arts at the beginning of the Renaissance. Its popularity expanded in subsequent eras, and in the early 20th century Expressionist artists radically redefined the genre.

80 colour and 100 b/w images

About the Author

Tobias G. Natter is an art historian and expert on Viennese art. He was Chief Curator at the Belvedere Museum and Director of the Leopold Museum both in Vienna, Austria. He is the author of Klimt & Rodin: An Artistic Encounter and Klimt and the Women of Vienna’s Golden Age, 1900-1918 (both by Prestel).