Portraiture

by Shearer West

Overview

This fascinating new book explores the world of portraiture from a number of vantage points, and asks key questions about its nature. How has portraiture changed over the centuries? How have portraits represented their subjects, and how have they been interpreted? Issues of identity, modernity, and gender are considered within a cultural and historical context. Shearer West uncovers much intriguing detail about a genre that has often been seen as purely representational, featuring examples from African tribes to Renaissance princes, and from 'stars' such as David and Victoria Beckham to ordinary people. In the process, she shows us how to communicate with the past in an exciting new way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191518034
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	04/08/2004
Series:	Oxford History of Art
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Shearer West is Professor of Art History at the University of Birmingham. Her books include Chagall (Bison, 1990), The Image of the Actor: Verbal and Visual Representation in the Age of Garrick and Kemble (Pinter, 1991), The Visual Arts in Germany 1890-1940 (Manchester UP, 2000), and Fin de Si e'cle: Art and Society in an Age of Uncertainty (Overlook, 1993). She is also the editor of The Bloomsbury Guide to Art (Bloomsbury, 1996).

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	7
	Introduction	9
Chapter 1	What Is a Portrait?	21
Chapter 2	The Functions of Portraiture	43
Chapter 3	Power and Status	71
Chapter 4	Group Portraiture	105
Chapter 5	The Stages of Life	131
Chapter 6	Gender and Portraiture	145
Chapter 7	Self-portraiture	163
Chapter 8	Portraiture and Modernism	187
Chapter 9	Identities	205
	Notes	221
	Annotated Bibliography	227
	Timeline	236
	Websites	242
	List of Illustrations	243
	Index	249