Read more
This book offers trans-historical and trans-national perspectives on the image of "the artist" as a public figure in the popular discourse and imagination. Since the rise of notions of artistic autonomy and the simultaneous demise of old systems of patronage from the late eighteenth century onwards, artists have increasingly found themselves confronted with the necessity of developing a public persona. In the same period, new audiences for art discovered their fascination for the life and work of the artist. The rise of new media such as the illustrated press, photography and film meant that the needs of both parties could easily be satisfied in both words and images. Thanks to these "new" media, the artist was transformed from a simple producer of works of art into a public figure. The aim of this volume is to reflect on this transformative process, and to study the specific role of the media themselves. Which visual media were deployed, to what effect, and with what kind of audiencesin mind? How did the artist, critic, photographer and filmmaker interact in the creation of these representations of the artist's image?
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. "At Home": Visiting the Artist's Studio in the Nineteenth-Century French Illustrated Press - Rachel Esner.- 3. Success Stories and Martyrologies: Images of Artists in Elsevier's Geïllustreerde Maandschrift - Liekse Tibbe.- 4. "Les épisodes de la vie d'un artiste intéressent beaucoup." The Power of the Media and How To Use It: An Exploration of Ensor's Self-Mediatization - Herwig Todts.- 5. Artists' Confessions to Tériade in L'Intransigeant, 1928-29: The Construction of a Public Image - Poppy Sfakianaki.- 6. Life's Pioneer Painters: Dorothy Seiberling and American Art in Life Magazine, 1949-1968 - Melissa Renn.- 7. Creative Process and Magic: Artists on Screen in the 1940s - Pierre Saurisse.- 8. COBRA. Canvas, and Camera: Luc de Heusch Filming Alechinsky and Dotremont at Work - Steven Jacobs.- 9. In Bed with Marina Abramovic: Mediatizing Women's Art as Personal Drama - Marcel Bleuler.- 10. Derek Jarman's Caravaggio and the Aesthetic Regime of Art - Marco de Waard.- 11. Interviewing the Artist: Richter versus Bacon - Sandra Kisters.- 12. The Myth of the Artist in Children's Illustrated Literature - Laura Bravo.- 13. A Physiology of the Inglorious Artist in Early Nineteenth-Century Paris - Kathryn Desplanque.- 14. Mythologies of the Artist in Modern India: The Many Lives of Raja Ravi Varma - Niharika Dinkar.- 15. Mediated Art History in Biopics: The Interplay of Myths and Media in Pollock - Doris Berger.- 16. The Glory of the Artist - Alain Bonnet.
About the author
Rachel Esner is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. She is a specialist in nineteenth-century French art and photography. Her research focuses on the artist's studio and the emergence of the artist as a public figure. Among others, she is co-editor of
Hiding Making - Showing Creation: The Studio from Turner to Tacita Dean (2013).
Sandra Kisters is Head of Collection and Research at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Her research focuses on the (self-)representation of the modern artist. Her publications include the edited volume
Hiding Making - Showing Creation: The Studio from Turner to Tacita Dean (2013), and
The Lure of the Biographical: On the (Self)-Representation of Modern Artists (2017).
Summary
This book offers trans-historical and trans-national perspectives on the image of “the artist” as a public figure in the popular discourse and imagination. Since the rise of notions of artistic autonomy and the simultaneous demise of old systems of patronage from the late eighteenth century onwards, artists have increasingly found themselves confronted with the necessity of developing a public persona. In the same period, new audiences for art discovered their fascination for the life and work of the artist. The rise of new media such as the illustrated press, photography and film meant that the needs of both parties could easily be satisfied in both words and images. Thanks to these “new” media, the artist was transformed from a simple producer of works of art into a public figure. The aim of this volume is to reflect on this transformative process, and to study the specific role of the media themselves. Which visual media were deployed, to what effect, and with what kind of audiencesin mind? How did the artist, critic, photographer and filmmaker interact in the creation of these representations of the artist’s image?
Additional text
“Esner and Kisters do an excellent job of presenting different artists battling different issues throughout their media careers. A lot like detectives, they piece together all the clues from history to show what happened, and why many of these major events led to the next mediation of the artist. Readers might find themselves asking similar questions throughout each case. … Overall, anyone’s objections to life and media might change after reading this book.” (Courtney Patterson, CBQ Communication Booknotes Quarterly, Vol. 51 (1-2), January-June, 2019)
Report
"Esner and Kisters do an excellent job of presenting different artists battling different issues throughout their media careers. A lot like detectives, they piece together all the clues from history to show what happened, and why many of these major events led to the next mediation of the artist. Readers might find themselves asking similar questions throughout each case. ... Overall, anyone's objections to life and media might change after reading this book." (Courtney Patterson, CBQ Communication Booknotes Quarterly, Vol. 51 (1-2), January-June, 2019)
