The Importance of an Artist’s Turban
Jan van Eyck, Self-portrait or Man in a Red Turban (1433) National Gallery, London
I've been looking forward to discussing turbans for some time because, for an art lover, a little knowledge can go a long way. Almost everyone thinks of them as oriental in some manner but, up until the end of the eighteenth century, you could find them all over Europe too....in the artist's studio. So what about all those Rembrandt images with Jews in turbans or Moroccan figures by Matisse. Yes, turbans help depict European otherness - some unknown, little understood figure from the East - but they also depict, on another level, the artist's own self. A new entry on Filippino Lippi's Dead Christ and the Artist's Turban explains.
Posted 10 Nov 2011: Artist as Another ArtistRembrandtVan EyckPortraitureTheoryVisual Perception
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