#Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror

[johbeil]

Self-portrait in a convex mirror

The streets of Rome - Via Virginia Woolf. Brutalist wall with a convex mirror. Leica R5 with 50 mm Summilux on Rollei Retro 80S black and white film.

[mon-nid]

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (Parmigianino) · Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (c. 1524, age about 21),[1] Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

[museenkuss]

“How I transformed my body in 90 days” type video but I’m becoming a Renaissance Woman. Vlog footage of me reading the classics for hours on end, writing vocabulary lists, drawing in my sketch book to epic music. On day 15 I talk about how I’m slowly adjusting to my elaborate home cooked meals and how I struggle with the genealogy of the Borgias. There are montages of me educating myself on history, astrology, astronomy and dressing well, I take horseback riding lessons and go to museums. Erasmus, Machiavelli and Lucretius are stacked on my bedside table.

There’s a segment where I say “it’s day 53 and I’m really struggling… I can’t even write a sonnet. I don’t see any improvement in myself. Is this even worth it?!” The stakes are rising. I’m shown ripping up pages of rhymes in calligraphy. I swear as I rush around the kitchen, trying to prepare my oysters. I sit at my desk and sigh, head in hands, my desk covered in stacks of notes, huge volumes on art history and printed out articles. The dramatic moment comes when I for the nth time try to walk and gesture with sprezzatura while balancing books on my head for better posture. I fall. The books topple to the floor. I’ve reached rock bottom.

Black screen. Voice over: “It was really hard. I felt like Dante, in the dark forest, having lost my way. And then, I realised what I needed: I had to go on a grand tour.”

Music swells again, there’s a montage of me packing and travelling in busses and trains. Landscape rushes past. I read Goethe’s Italienische Reise on the journey. Finally, there are snippets of me in Munich, in Vienna. I take a selfie in front of Parmigianino’s self portrait in a convex mirror, showing off my own elegantly contorted hand. I’m in Florence, breathing heavily with excitement as I walk along the outside walls of the Galleria degli Uffizi. “Oh my god, there he is—“ I film the Petrarch statue, the phone visibly shaking. “I can’t believe I get to meet him…” I whisper with awe. Cut. I’m blowing a kiss at the right Grace in Botticelli’s Spring (I have a crush on her). I’m in the Loggia di Psiche in Rome, I’m kneeling on a bridge in Venice to touch it, “Tintoretto walked on these very stones..”, I’m filming the ceiling of the Camera Degli Sposi in Mantua. I’m in the streets of Grasse showing off a bottle of Fragonard perfume I bought, I’m teary eyed in front of the Concerto Campestre in the Louvre. Cut.

I’m back home. “It’s now day…79. Those were the most unrealistic two weeks of my life. And the most expensive. But now I’m back on track. I feel like I can really do this.” With newfound vigour I get back to my battered Reclam German/Latin edition of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Day 81, 85, 89. Emotional/hopeful music. I show a Shakespeare sonnet written in beautiful calligraphy. I’m in the museum sketching the composition of an annunciation and taking notes on a Venus by Cranach. I practice a speech I’ve written following Cicero’s rules on rhetoric. I’m back on horseback. I present a cake of some sort.

DAY 90. I’m at my desk. “Wow, what a journey. Now let’s see the transformation I underwent in those 90 days.” I show side by side footage of me from day 1 and day 90. I look the same, except day 90 me is wearing all black, Castiglione style, and has better posture. Back to the desk. “I changed so much. I learned so much about myself and my limits. I’m still not fluent in Latin or Italian. But what I learned is that beauty is everywhere, especially in the struggle, and it’s worth cherishing. And now, I’m back and stronger and more curious than ever. If you haven’t followed me on tumblr @Museenkuss at this point, what are you doing? Click the follow button and give this post a like because NOW, the fun really begins. A renaissance woman never stops learning.” From under the desk, I grab two books and put them on my desk. The Tale of Genji and Sei Shōnagon’s pillow book. “It’s time to expand my horizon.” Black screen.

[onetwofeb]

“Perhaps an angel looks like everything We have forgotten, I mean forgotten Things that don’t seem familiar when We meet them again, lost beyond telling, Which were ours once.”

John Ashbery, from “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror”

[portraituresque]

Amnon-David-Ar-Self-portrait-in-convex-mirror-2008

[collectionarchive]

Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (c. 1524)

by Parmigianino

source: collectionarchive.tumblr.com

[art-mirrors-art]

William Nicholson - Self-portrait in the convex mirror (c. 1900s)

[girlhaggard]

Parmigianino, Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror, c. 1524

[tornlinament]

John Ashbery Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror draft

[litteratured]

John Ashbery reads "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" (full poem)

NYT Obit from Seot. 3, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/arts/john-ashbery-dead-prize-winning-poet.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IU4.MctU.BS2dBfbUF9Ec&smid=url-share

[armchairarchivist]

Alex Katz, Lithograph from Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror

[ilovetheseattlemariners]

I miss lying down in the arts atrium: this big open concept study hall that was themed around these gardenbeds and had this gorgeous tile glass roof, and there were these gorgeous bygone lanterns lighting up the entire place softly yet adequately. There were these couches that were obviously either taken off the street or donations and I remember lying down on one and looking up into the early autumn night thru the glass between readings of Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror.

Whenever I imagine myself there now I think to hold the version of me in the past, the version of me no longer myself.

[louisegluckpdf]

Do u like Ashbery

i like the individual poems i've read by him, but i've never read a full collection (though self-portrait in a convex mirror has been on my to-read list for years). if anyone has any recs feel free to let me know!

[exhibit-of-the-century]

Lecture Notes MON 29th JAN

Masterlist

BUY ME A COFFEE

The Artwork in History: ‘Early Modern’ Art

What is ‘Early Modern’ Art? Well, it’s mostly an umbrella term for a lot of art, it can refer to the renaissance, and is sometimes associated with it. The Renaissance is a loaded term, especially when linked to culture and belief. So, some prefer to use ‘early modern’ as a term to describe it.

Let’s unpack ‘Early Modern’. ‘Modern’ we usually consider it to be closer to us? Another loaded term really. Because what is modernity? So, for art that is closer to us, we use the term contemporary rather than modern, since modernism is also a movement in art history, and there’s historical modern too.

One of the things modern may be: (depending on who) Just after the Renaissance or even the Renaissance. We usually limit ourselves in chronological thinking when it comes to Art History, although timelines are very helpful when it comes to understanding what influences what. What happens outside of Italy helps establish a vague name for the other art that is happening.

Jan Van Eyck is one of these painters, as he dates and signed all of his works (Van Eyck was here, was his signature). This means that his work is well documented for the time. His work was done during the same century as Renaissance Italy and the Masaccio panel, in reference to my previous lesson.

The Renaissance is a term that mostly refers to Italy during the 14th century and cannot entirely be applied to Eyck. That is where the term ‘Northern Renaissance’ comes in, attempting to mostly cash in on the cultural value of the term Renaissance. Another annoying term.

Jan van Eyck (d. 1441) Arnolfini double portrait, 1434 oil on panel, 82 x 59.5 cm National Gallery.

Why would this painting be modern?

Well, it’s non-religious for a start, it has directional lighting with cast shadows and perspective. Especially the mirror. Although the way Van Eyck’s script is written for his signature is more in the gothic style than humanitarian script.

Linseed oil and nut oils with pigment were used to paint this work, olive oil is not an option for painting with as it never dries. Linseed oil is translucent despite the natural pigments added. The detail of carpentry carving in beams next to the mirror, as well as the lustre on the brass chandelier.

To achieve this gradient of shadow and shade, you’d layer a base colour and then adding white to a layer you add light, here adding transparent glaze achieves shadow, rather than adding dark pigment. As light has more layers to pass through, so this creates the darker effect, we know this from x-rays of the painting. The vividness of this painting is achieved through the naturalistic colour palette. How artists at the time developed this, is still largely unknown but we have reason to believe historically, that some of their knowledge would’ve come from Arabic/Middle Eastern discoveries of light’s effect on the eye and colour.

Oil painting predates the Renaissance, it just becomes popular during this time.

The aforementioned convex mirror with great distortion, but still reflective and showing the artist. Can be linked to/associated with ‘modern art’ as self-awareness is an association of it.

Martin Kemp (who has a technological application interest and used it on Eyck’s work): if you tale what’s in the mirror you actually get a better/more accurate perspective than what you have un the main body of the painting. Vanishing points (as studied with computer tech).

Vasari knew Michelangelo told people to value and like this artwork at the time, so it’s been popular throughout history.

Bramante, ‘Tempietto’, c.1502, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome

‘Tempietto’ meaning little temple. Noticing the floor, it is similar to the cosmati pavement in Westminster Abbey, it appears as convincing Antiquity but is definitely Medieval. This complicate what the Renaissance is and Antiquity.

Northern Artists begin going/taking inspiration from Italy.

A Northern European artist in Italy: Dürer, Feast of the Rose Garlands, 1506 oil on poplar, 162 x 194.5 cm, Národní Galerie, Prague

Van Eyck traditionally begins to blend with Italian Gossaert. Going from the Netherlands to Italy These Motifs of gods spread all across Europe.

Jan Gossaert, Venus and Cupid, 1521, oil on panel, 32 x 24 cm Brussels

And Religion gets complicated. The Reformation, which impacts the visual arts. The Protestant Reformation was a religious reform movement that swept through Europe in the 1500s. It resulted in the creation of a branch of Christianity called Protestantism, a name used collectively to refer to the many religious groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church due to differences in doctrine.

Marin Luther, a very religious celibate, who published a doctrine for the reformation, has a portrait with his wife.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) Portrait depicts Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora, 1529 Darmstadt

Cranach works closely with Luther in publishing propaganda and painting, he generally was an interesting historical figure.

Religious and political frameworks for the visual arts begin breaking down. Henry VIII takes ownership of all the churches land.

While the visual arts may not actually be effected to such an extent of what to paint/create, they are effected, in a different way. Iconoclastic was something that came from the reformation due to protestant belief centring around icons being removed, that you should worship without the need of icons. Especially in Northern Europe a lot of icons and images are smashed – coming from the more extreme views of no icons. In the Netherlands there is a large riot and smashing of icons:

Iconoclasm depicted: Frans Hogenberg, The Iconoclastic Riot of 20 August 1566 Engraving from Michael Aitsinger, De Leone Belgico, 1588

Iconoclasm in practice: Polychrome stone altarpiece Burial chapel of Jan van Arkel, c1500 Utrecht Cathedral.

As well as reconfiguring some Medieval churches:

Iconoclasm in practice: Interior of the church in Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands

This religious/political change around (mainly) Europe, disturbs the continuity of Church Art and the Visual Arts. This also actually breaks the entire art market at the time.

Holbein during this time comes to England for work. One of these portraits is of Erasmus, a very famous and one of the most important humanists of that time.

(Left) New emphases: Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) Portrait of Sir Thomas More, 1527 (Right) Portrait of Erasmus, 1523 Oil on panel,74 x 59 cm, Frick, New York Oil on panel, 43 x 33 cm, Louvre

Around this time, comes Mannerism: a break in form and idealism. There are extensions in proportions and exaggerations. ‘Madonna with the long neck’/’swan neck’

‘Mannerism’ Parmigianino, Virgin and Child with Angels and St Jerome,1535- 40, oil on panel, 216 x 132 cm, Uffizi, Florence

Although mannerism can be summarised as a proportion change, it’s hard to put it into a box and explain exactly what mannerism is. Although it was also mostly an Italian insult, when referring to a work: to say it was not mannered/awkward.

However, mannerism also shows us how artists attempted something new and different.

Giulio Romano, East façade of the courtyard, Palazzo del Tè, Mantua, 1526-34

This also happened to architecture, although this façade looks to have tension and be slipping/sliding, this was done intentionally. At the time, only the sophisticated audiences would know and understand that these ‘faults’ are an intent and a joke.

Another twist that comes from the reformation: ‘Baroque’

And this title too is considered a bit of an insult, at least at the time it was. ‘Goth’ was also one of these. Baroque meant twisted and contorted. But despite this insulting title, this work was propagandistic and is considered one of the first global art styles due to mass colonisation during the time this style was popular.

‘Baroque’ Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cornaro Chapel, 1652, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome

Although this Caravaggio painting was well studied people still cannot determine or decide who St. Matthew is, out of all the men, it’s very ambiguous. As well as a little peculiar to depict saints and Jesus in a drinking scene, even if in the bible this is the setting, Caravaggio was a frequent visitor of drinking houses  and enjoyed the drinking scene visually (pubs).

Caravaggio, The Calling of St Matthew,1599- 1600, oil on canvas, 322 x 340 cm, Contarelli chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

Francesco Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome, 1638-41

Towards the end of this period, you have far less church art but still a large art ownership, especially in the Netherlands. There is a long tradition in Dutch Art for precise depiction, like in this landscape piece and still life. Although the still life succeeds in a secondary function, of depicting wealth through material goods: the Chinese porcelain, olives spilling out.

Jacob van Ruisdael, A Pool surrounded by Trees, and Two Sportsmen coursing a Hare, about 1665, oil on canvas, 107.5 x 143 cm, National Gallery

Willem Claesz. Heda, Still Life with a Lobster, 1650-9, oil on canvas,114 x 103cm, National Gallery

[septic-aye]

self portrait in a convex mirror (part 1)

[tmyrmel]

Premiered at Splendor in Amsterdam in oct 2023

Composed by Thomas Myrmel based on excerpts from John Ashbery's 'self portrait in a convex mirror'

Performed by Tatiana Rosa (flutes/electr) & Thomas Myrmel (tbn/electr)