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Dec.12 - Dec.19, 2004 |
Famous self-portraits on display in Florence
Artists depicting themselves range from Klee to De Chirico, from Picasso to Rockwell, from Ensor to Warhol
By Carla Cace
Originally Published: 2004-10-24
Artists and how they see themselves form the focus of Moi! Autoritratti del XX secolo ("Moi! Self-portraits of the 20th century"), an exhibition now open at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It is an original presentation of self-portraits of artists who left a trace, through their image, of the problems linking history with sociology, and psychoanalysis with the restlessness and great questions that criss-crossed the century.
Curator Pascal Bonafoux has developed, right from the first opening last spring in Paris, a flexible path rich in interesting suggestions. The portraits are observed from the outside, explored in their genesis, trying to show their resemblance (or lack thereof), the wearing of the 'mask' and variations of expression, the mark of history, or the use of metamorphosis. The exhibition unwinds along the 12 halls of the Uffizi, leading visitors and artists, as if it were a double 'thread of Ariadne', in an infinite maze of roles.
Self-portraits are at home in Florence, the city where portrait collections originated: Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, in fact, decided in 1664 to devote himself to a previously unknown kind of collectionism, sending his agents to buy paintings where famous artists had portrayed themselves. The Cardinal died in 1675, but his new hobby survived him and still lasts, considering every artist in Italy or abroad deemed it an honour and a privilege to have a self-portrait in the Florentine collection. This is, in summary, the reason why the Uffizi can nowadays boast a unique collection of self-portraits, both in the number and variety of pieces and the very peculiar nature of the collection. In consideration of this, it's easy to see that the Florentine museum was the best possible location for the exhibition that Bonafoux originally organized in Paris. It had the prestige, the memories, the recognition, and the pride.
If in the past, as Pascal Bonafoux reminds us, the common denominator for this collection was the oil painting on canvas, now the modern techniques and experiments ensure diversity to self-portraits. In a remarkable kaleidoscope of 150 pieces, taken from all over the art history of the 20th century through avant-garde, revolutions, posters, and globalizations - ranging from Paul Klee to De Chirico, from Picasso to Norman Rockwell, from Ensor to Severini to Warhol - Bonafoux makes us understand the meaning and the charm of the profound mutation intervened in how artists see themselves.
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