from Syracuse University Art Galleries
March 1, 2015 - June 14, 2015

An artist’s portrait, like all good portraits, offers the viewer more than physical features. One sees the characteristics of the sitter that make that person a unique individual. All artists are involved with, or have a heightened interest in, creative pursuits which makes them interesting candidates for portrait subjects.

On the other hand, a self-portrait is an artist’s opportunity to make a statement. Traditional portraiture, especially commissioned ones, often came with expectations that the image be a favorable likeness of the sitter. Self-portraiture removed those restrictions enabling artists to be more experimental. This exhibition brings together fifty works in a variety of media that examine self-portraits and portraits of other artists. Included in the show are works by Milton Avery, Chuck Close, Leonard Baskin, Edward Steichen, Norman Rockwell, and Anders Zorn. Sitters include James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Eakins, Charlie Chaplin, C.S. Lewis, and Pablo Casals.