BOOK:500 Self-Portraits, Phaidon Publications

What could be more intrinsically human than self-portraits? They represent what makes us unique among all creatures on this planet: our highly developed self-awareness. While other animals, such as chimpanzees, might at times demonstrate a consciousness of themselves, none have reached the level where they use tools to capture the process of self-reflection in something external to themselves so that they can later reflect on that process of self-reflection. At a deep philosophical and psychological level of analysis, the phenomenon is wondrously introspective, paradoxical, and even mystical. The challenge of interpreting and recreating their own likenesses has proven irresistible to artists throughout the ages. Originally the book “500 Self-Portraits” by Phaidon Publications was published more than 80 years ago and last revised in 2000, this wholly new edition for 2018 presents a selection of powerfully evocative works by many of the world’s greatest artists from antiquity to the present day; from Dürer and Rembrandt to Marina Abramović, David Hockney, and Cindy Sherman. Flowing in a chronological sequence, with interspersed artist quotes, it features essays by Julian Bell and Liz Rideal. This is both a useful resource and a thoughtful celebration of a much-loved art form. Each image is both an artwork of as well as a study in the psychology of self-perception and self-expression.–Efi Michalarou