Mabel Alvarez: Self-Portrait

Mabel Alvarez (American, 1891-1985): Self-Portrait, 1923 – (Oil on canvas, Alvarez Family Collection) The enigmatic Self-Portrait was a work of sober self-reflection and coloristic maturity. Alvarez’s image of herself is defined by broad areas of flat paint… The composition is simple, symmetrical, and focused - a lean description of her face in basic terms. The black line around the rim of her hat, which also appears on her shoulder, is a device to frame color…

Selbstporträt im Atelier

Lovis Corinth (German, 1858-1925): Selbstporträt im Atelier, 1914 – (Oil on panel, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, München) Self Portrait in the Studio is a sketchier portrayal of the painter at work, surrounded by his canvases, and looking much more haggard than in his pre-stroke days. Corinth suffered the stroke in 1911; thereafter his painterly style and his outlook on life changed in a number of ways. His brushwork generally became more expressive in nature…

Enter Ophelia, fantastically dressed with straws and flowers

„LAERTES

How now! what noise is that?

Re-enter OPHELIA

O heat, dry up my brains! tears, seven times salt, burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!– By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May! Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!…”  William Shakespeare: Hamlet

Enter Ophelia, fantastically dressed with straws and flowers. Illustration by Walter Crane. From Flowers from Shakespeare’s Garden, 1906