THE ART OF THE SELFIE
‘Selfies’ have been around for a long time. From Renaissance self-portrait paintings of the 15th century, to the first photographic selfie in 1839 by Robert Cornelius, to today's selfie-obsessed society fuelled by smartphones and social media; people have always been interested in turning their lenses towards themselves.
Reflective Visions will look at 5 famous photographers, with a particular focus on how they have used elements of self-portraiture to explore identity, culture and history in their work.
Travel through time and place, from 1920s Germany, to 1960s-70s USA, to 2000s Japan, exploring these artists' Reflective Visions...
GERTRUD ARNDT (1903-2000)
We begin our journey in 1920's Germany, during the Weimar period (post-World War I, pre-World War II), which saw an explosion of artistic production due to a relaxing of censorship and a more stable German economy. Creativity and experimentation in the art and design industries flourished during this time - there were more nightclubs, cabaret and theatres where people felt free to express and explore their identities (The Barbican, 2019).
During this period, the Bauhaus art school was also founded, which saw a merging of art and technology and produced many prominent artists and designers. One such artist was Gertrud Arndt…
Who was Getrud Arndt?
Gertrud Arndt was a Polish-born, German textile artist and photographer, who originally trained with architect Karl Meinhardt in 1919, “…rejecting the traditional role that society assigned to her.” (Belcheva, 2021). Arndt studied for three years with Meinhardt, but even with her design knowledge and skillset, was not allowed into the architecture course when she joined the Bauhaus in 1923. Instead, Arndt had to undertake foundation studies and was encouraged to join the weaving workshop – an example of gender stereotypes present at the time.
In 1929, Arndt explored these stereotypes when she began working on her series of 43 self-portrait photographs. Her Maskenselbstporträts (masked self-portraits) saw Arndt create a series of disguises: “the femme fatale, the good girl, the fun-loving flapper, the respectable lady, the serious and stoical widow, the new woman”(Morley, 2016). These works explored the idea of gender as a mask, investigating the various roles that women in society are expected to perform.
Image: Getrud Arndt, Masked Self-Portrait No. 16, 1930, gelatin silver print, 22.7 x 17.6cm (Arndt, 1930a)
Create your own Masked Self-Portrait:
In the widget below, click and drag pieces from Gertrud Arndt's works, and arrange them on an image of your face. (Use your webcam or smartphone camera, or upload your own photo). As you click on each piece, you will find out which of Getrud Arnd'ts artwork the piece is from!
What kind of masks do you wear in your life? How might these masks change depending on where you are and who you are with?
Although the Weimar period saw a rise of artistic expression, there was also tension between creative freedoms and the political climate of the time. As Nazi propaganda began to rise in the 1930s, many artists were categorised as ‘degenerate’ and faced persecution (The Barbican, 2019). In 1933 the Bauhaus closed, and Arndt’s family moved to Eastern Germany. When her family moved again after WWII, Arndt stopped taking photographs entirely.
Through her series of masked self-portraits, Gertrud Arndt paved the way for many women photographers that came after her. Her experiments with self-portraiture and performative photography allowed for a deeper contemplation of gender stereotypes and identity.
WHERE TO NEXT?
Our journey now takes us from the experimental artof Weimar Germany to the streets of 1950s New York City and beyond, where American photographer Lee Friedlander is hiding in his photographs. Can you find him?
LEE FRIEDLANDER (b.1934)
While Getrud Arndt’s works were a direct response to the social and political climate she existed within, Lee Friedlander’s documentary-style works often encapsulated a broader aspect of the American social landscape (Blumberg, 2024).
Born in Aberdeen, Washington in 1934, Friedlander began photographing in 1948. Whether it be through busy city life filled with people, billboards and buildings, or dense natural landscapes filled with trees and boulders, Friedlander used his camera to explore the complexity of American society.
A unique aspect of much of Friedlander’s work, is the indirect insertion of himself into his imagery – through reflections in shop windows, glass doors or car mirrors, or shadows of himself looming near the subject. In this way, Friedlander was creating his own series of disguises or ‘masks’ like Gertrud Arndt, complicating the viewing experience and adding another level of intrigue to his images.
“It is unusual for street photography in that it possesses a constant awareness of the photographer’s relationship to the picture plane and places at least as much importance on it as on the image’s ostensible subject…” (Hostetler, 1999)
By including elements of himself in so many of his photographs, Friedlander created a new and exciting dynamic between viewer, artwork, and artist, straying from the more traditional notion of “never letting the photographer’s shadow or reflection disrupt the composition.” (Blumberg, 2024).
THUMBS AND SHADOWS ARCHIVE
In the Thumbs and Shadows Archive below, we invite you to upload any ‘accidental selfies’ that you find in your personal/family archives. Maybe someone’s clumsy thumb is partially blocking the lens (Grandpa, not again!) or maybe a sunny day cast the photographer’s shadow into frame. What memories do these photos conjure up? What do they tell you about the day they were captured?
Click the '+' button below and you will be prompted to add your image/s, and up to 15 words about the photo.
Friedlander’s unusual and playful explorations of the concept of the self-portrait, and themes of identity, media and society and artistic processes, continue to influence the way photographers capture the world around them. Friedlander’s works remind us that the artist is always present, and their own connection to the works they present to the world (whether visible or not) adds complexity and depth to the images we experience as viewers.
FRANCESCA WOODMAN (1958-1981)
Away from the hustle and bustle of the streets, in a quiet room, Francesca Woodman is using her camera to quietly reflect on ideas of identity and self...
Born in Denver, Colorado in 1958, Woodman first started taking photos in her early teens, eventually studying at Rhode Island School of Design. Born into an artist family, Woodman was influenced by the surrealist art of photographers Man Ray and Claude Cahun – contemporaries of Gertrud Arndt.
In 1979, Woodman moved to New York, where she struggled with depression and isolation, tragically taking her own life in 1981 at the age of 22. During her life, Woodman took over 800 photos. She explored the transient nature of photography – manipulating light and movement, as well as using props, vintage clothing and dilapidated interiors (Tate, n.d.) to create a sense of time beyond the photograph.
Much like lee Friedlander’s ambiguity of composition and obscuring of the self through shadows and reflections, Woodman used objects and movement to obscure herself – exploring themes of human fragility. The placing of herself within many of her images speaks to an interesting dynamic between artist and audience that photographers like Friedlander also experimented with.
Within the context of 1970s America, where photography was still largely regarded as a less important artform than traditional mediums such as painting and sculpture (Tate, n.d.), Woodman’s ethereal, haunting imagery carved a space in the photographic world for contemplative works backed by thoughtful artistic processes.
Image: Francesca Woodman, Space², Providence, Rhode Island, 1976, gelatin silver print, 14 x 14 cm (Woodman, 1976)
Next, our journey takes us away from these small, quiet rooms, towards the big silver screen – to tales of legend and loss, drama and suspense, in the works of Cindy Sherman…
CINDY SHERMAN (b.1954)
Born in 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Cindy Sherman studied at State University College, New York and moved to New York in 1967. Sherman was part of a group of artists that became known as the Picture Generation (including Richard Prince, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo). In the 1970s, these artists “responded to the mass media landscape surrounding them with both humour an criticism, appropriating images from advertising, film, television, and magazines for their art.” (Gaylord, 2016) Along with these artists, Sherman began to explore ideas of authorship, originality, “the condition of the photographic image” (Guggenheim, n.d.) and the commodification of art.
Throughout her works, Sherman uses herself to experiment with identities, dressing up as various characters and crafting detailed scenes. For her Untitled Film Stills series (1977-80), Sherman became female characters or caricatures that reference scenes from mid-20th century B movies. In a similar way to Gertrud Arndt, these works by Sherman explore ideas of feminism and representation. Some films that inspired Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills include (Alexander, 2019):
- La Jetee, Chris Marker 1962
- Rear Window, Hitchcock 1954
- Le Mepris (Contempt), Jean-Luc Godard, 1963
- Jules et Jim, Truffaut, 1962 (view the trailer below!)
- La Ciociara, Vittoria De Sica, 1960
- The films of Michelangelo Antonioni
- Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren 1943
As with the works of Lee Friedlander and Francesca Woodman, Sherman’s use of the self within photography created an “appropriation of the space on both sides of the lens [that] destabilized the traditional opposition between artist and model, object and subject” (Guggenheim,n.d.)
Image: Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #21, 1978, gelatin silver print, 19.1 × 24.1 cm (Sherman, 1978)
In Untitled Film Still #46 (below), the character is obscured by the presence of water, creating a sense of mystery and intrigue. What is the character doing in this body of water? What is bubbling beneath the surface?....
…bubbling…bubbling…and when we reappear above the surface we find ourselves in….
….1990s Japan…in front of the works of…
MASAHISA FUKASE (1934-2012)
Born in Hokkaido in 1934, Masahisa Fukase, the son of a successful local studio photographer, graduated from Nihon University College of Art’s Photography Department in 1956, and became a freelance photographer in 1968 (Rosen, 2018).
Fukase was a radical and experimental photographer of the post-war generation in Japan, perhaps most famous for his 1975-1985 series (and subsequent publication) Karasu (Ravens). Fukase worked almost exclusively in series - some created over several decades – incorporating his own life and experiences of loss, love, and depression (Kane, 2015).
Although many of the themes Fukase explored were heavy and dark, he approached his works with a sense of playfulness and humour throughout his career. He often featured his family, wife, his cat Sasuke in his works, and towards the end of his career he more often turned the camera on himself. Much like the other artists we have explored on this journey so far, Fukase used his camera to relate to both his surroundings and to himself.
In 1991, Fukase produced Bukubuku (bubbling), a series of self-portraits taken in his bathtub. Although on the surface these works appear playful and humorous, they were created after Fukase’s marriage had broken up, his father passed away, and his business failed. These works are symbolic of the isolation and loneliness that Fukase felt at the time (Kane, 2015). They invite the viewer into the complex mind of the artist and his relationship with his camera that was such a prominent part of his personal and professional life.
Image: Masahisa Fukase, Untitled, 1991, gelatin silver print, 24 x 16.2cm (Fukase, 1991)
CREATE YOUR OWN BUKUBUKU SELF-PORTRAIT:
fin.
Well, we've reached the end of our journey! We hope you've enjoyed this insight into the ways these 5 photographers use self-portrait elements to explore the world around them, as well as their complex inner worlds. Next time you snap a selfie, perhaps you will stop and think about all that have come before you, and the vast amount of identity, culture and history that is captured when your thumb presses that button...
REFERENCES
Alexander, K. (2019, July 16). The films that influenced Cindy Sherman’s ‘Untitled Film Stills’ series. Dazed. https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/45267/1/the-films-that-influenced-cindy-shermans-untitled-film-stills-series
Arndt, G. (1930a). Masked Self-Portrait No. 16 [Gelatin silver print]. The Met. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/834509
Arndt, G. (1930b). Untitled (Masked Self-Portrait, Dessau) [Gelatin silver print]. MoMA. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/407375
Arndt, G. (1930c). Masked Self-Portrait, 39A [Gelatin silver print]. Art Institute Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/200886/masked-self-portrait-39a-dessau-maskenselbstportrait-39a-dessau
Arndt, G. (1930d). Masked Self-Portrait No. 13 [Gelatin silver print]. Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin/Museum for Gestaltung. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gertrud_Arndt,_Mask_portrait,_Dessau_1930,_No_13.jpg
Arndt, G. (1930e). Masked Self-Portrait No. 11 [Gelatin silver print]. Artsy. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/gertrud-arndt-mask-self-portrait-no-11
Art Lead (n.d.). Modern Classics: Cindy Sherman – Untitled Film Stills, 1977-1980. Art Lead. https://artlead.net/journal/modern-classics-cindy-sherman-untitled-film-stills/
Belcheva, I. (2021). Gertrud Arndt. Aware. https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/gertrud-arndt/
Blumberg, L. (2024, July 10). Lee Friedlander. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lee-Friedlander
Carbon, C. (2017). Universal Principles of Depicting Oneself across the Centuries: From Renaissance Self-Portraits to Selfie Photographs. Frontiers in psychology. 8, 245-245. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00245
Euphobia1. (1958). Noyes Fludde with Michael Crawford, 1958 And thumb [Photograph]. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/guardianwitness-blog/gallery/2014/oct/08/giving-the-finger-readers-pictures-of-ruined-photos
Fraenkel Gallery. (n.d.). Lee Friedlander, Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander
Friedlander, L. (1966a). Shadow, New York City [Gelatin silver print]. The Met. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/266215
Friedlander, L. (1977). Montana [Gelatin silver print]. Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander
Friedlander, L. (1966b). Maria, Minneapolis, Minnesota [Gelatin silver print]. Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander
Friedlander, L. (1974). Banff, Canada [Gelatin silver print]. Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander
Friedlander, L. (1994). Tokyo [Gelatin silver print]. Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander
Friedlander, L. (1963). New York City [Gelatin silver print]. Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander#friedlander-lee_lee-friedlander-the-street_s-1
Friedlander, L. (1969). Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota [Gelatin silver print]. Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander#friedlander-lee_lee-friedlander-the-street_s-1
Friedlander, L. (1996). California [Gelatin silver print]. Fraenkel Gallery. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander#friedlander-lee_lee-friedlander-landscapes_s-1
Fukase, M. (1991). Untitled [Gelatin silver print]. Getty Museum. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/109NT3#full-artwork-details
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Guggenheim. (n.d.). Cindy Sherman. Guggenheim. https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/cindy-sherman
Harrison, A. (n.d.) Spot the cobra [Photograph]. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/guardianwitness-blog/gallery/2014/oct/08/giving-the-finger-readers-pictures-of-ruined-photos
Hostetler, L. (1999) Lee Friedlander. In E.Handy, W. Hartsworth., A. Hollandar, & International Center of Photography (Eds.), Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography Collection (pp. 216). Little Brown & Company.
Kane, A. (2015, November 13). Was this Japanese photographer the ultimate selfie master?. Dazed. https://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/28393/1/was-this-japanese-photographer-the-ultimate-selfie-master
Kashina, A. (n.d.). A scorching evening at the Acropolis, Parthenon obscured [Photograph]. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/guardianwitness-blog/gallery/2014/oct/08/giving-the-finger-readers-pictures-of-ruined-photos
Lahoud, P. (2006). Me and my shadow [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pj_41/318785096/in/photostream/
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O’Hagan, S. (2015, July 14). Masahisa Fukase: the man who photographed nothing but his wife. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jul/13/masahisa-fukase-photographed-nothing-but-his-wife
Rosen, M. (2018, September 27). Inside the Darkly Fascinating World of Masahisa Fukase. Feature Shoot. https://www.featureshoot.com/2018/09/inside-the-darkly-fascinating-world-of-masahisa-fukase/
Sherman, C. (1978). Untitled Film Still #21 [Gelatin silver print]. MoMA. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/56618
Sherman, C. (1979). Untitled Film Still #46 [Gelatin silver print]. MoMA. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/56984
Tate. (n.d.). Finding Francesca. Tate Gallery. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesca-woodman-10512/finding-francesca
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Woodman, F. (1976). Space2, Providence, Rhode Island [Gelatin silver print]. Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/woodman-space-providence-rhode-island-ar00350
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