Art in the Afternoon: Here’s Lookin’ at You Kid: The Self-Portrait

Art in the Afternoon is a four-part lecture series presented by Muscarelle Docents. Join us Wednesdays in October for these illuminated art history presentations.

Today, anyone with a cell phone can capture a “self-portrait” – or so it seems. But what do artists hope to achieve when they create images of themselves? How do they want to be seen and understood? And how do they do it? Although appearing in Western art from antiquity, self-portraits don’t become fashionable until the mid-15th century. With technological developments, changing views of the individual, and an increasing interest in the inner self in Western culture, artists continue to investigate and express their ideas and social and artistic values through self-portraiture. This presentation by docent Sandra Stephan looks at the ways artists across the ages have chosen to portray— and perhaps reveal—themselves.

Sandra Stephan, a retired professor of English literature, currently — and proudly — chairs the Muscarelle Museum of Art Docents and is active with the Friends of the Williamsburg Library.

REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON van RIJN | Dutch, 1606-1669) | Self-Portrait in a Velvet Cap with Plume (detail), 1638 | Etching | Gift of Marilyn Brown in memory of Douglas Morton (W&M ’62) | 2016.231