Summer 2015 Course at NYU

Self-Portraits in Art: Concealment and Revelation

Francis Bacon, Three Studies for a Self-Portrait, 1980

"The self-portrait invited the viewer to meet the gaze of its creator, making it the most compelling of all artistic genres," writes James Hall in his seminal work, The Self-Portrait: A Cultural History. In three classroom lectures and one museum visit, explore the genre of self-portraiture through an examination of four fascinating artists: Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Francis Bacon and Chuck Close. How does self-portraiture define out understanding of these artists' oeuvres? What are the stylistic, psychological, biographical, and cultural components? How honest are these depictions of "self"? What i the role of ego? In this course, analyze works and writings of these artists and explore these questions.

Course runs July 8 - July 29

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OF INTEREST: Left Bank Art Blog

Left Bank Art Blog is written by Charles Kessler, who documents his exploration of the many different areas of the Art World, from the historical to the cutting-edge contemporary. In this great piece, he writes about a four-day trip to Washington D.C. 

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Spring NYU Course begins February 17, 2015: New York as the Subject Matter for Great Art

New York has been a compelling subject for many artists, from Joseph Stella’s iconic paintings of the Brooklyn Bridge and Red Grooms’ three-dimensional fabrication of Ruckus Manhattan to Edward Hopper’s Early Sunday Morning and Andreas Feininger’s image-defining photographs. Explore 20th-century depictions of the City, beginning with the Ashcan School, Alfred Stieglitz and his circle, and the precisionists; progressing through the impact of the first Armory Show in 1913 and the influence of European émigré artists such as Gorky, Duchamp, and Mondrian; and concluding with the rise of abstract expressionism as New York became the center of the art world. Museum visits and architectural observations complement lectures.