Module Information

This module offers a historic survey of portraiture from Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi up to the present day. It traces the development of the status and meaning of portraiture, and of the human face as a locus of identity.

Lectures will offer a thorough grounding in the history of the portrait and of the many forms the portrait has taken from the ancient world to the contemporary art market. In seminars, we will discuss the philosophical and intellectual concepts of self, other and image that the portrait has both responded to and helped to form.

Lectures form a chronological survey of the invention and development of portraiture in a global frame. These will show how the genre has changed over time under pressure from developments in politics, society and science, and examine a wealth of portraits from a variety of perspectives. From Renaissance princes, to celebrities, to anthropological documents, to artist self-portraits, to Modernist masterpieces, to feminist interrogations of womanhood within Western society, the course examines artists including Hans Holbein, to Titian, to Gustave Courbet, to Picasso, to Frida Kahlo, to Sonia Boyce and Kehinde Wiley. Media range from marble, oil on canvas, to watercolour and even blood.

In seminars, the intertwining histories of portraiture and identity are examined in terms of their social, political, economic, and psychological drivers; likewise concepts of identity are discussed in relation to key works of art.