The self-portrait: from Schiele to Beckmann

Abstract

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 formalized 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. 00Exhibition: Neue Galerie, New York, USA (28.02.- 24.06.2019).

Contents

Preface / Ronald S. Lauder -- Foreword / Renee Price -- "I Lust to Experience Everything" : Egon Schiele and the Self-Portrait / Tobias G. Natter -- The Modern Artist : On the Self-Image and Self-Understanding of German and Austrian Painters / Olaf Peters -- A Painter in Changing Roles : Max Beckmann's Self-Portraits in Context / Uwe M. Scchneede -- Self-Depiction in the Shadow of the Camera / Monika Faber -- Looking in the Mirror and in the Museum : Intention and Tradition in German and Austrian Self-Portraiture, 1900-1940 / Stefen Weppelmann -- All Eyes : Self-Portraiture, The Collapse of Truth and the Birth of the New Man / Philipp Blom -- Plates and Catalogue Entries / Rolf H. Johannsen, Guido Messling, Tobias G. Natter, and Olaf Peters -- Checklist -- Index -- Photograph and Copyright Credits.