Eyes at Bottom
Discover another "unknown" theme in art: the artist's eye or eyes at the bottom of the picture. By placing forms in eye-shapes near the lower edge, the artist communicates that the image above is inside his mind by being, so to speak, behind his forehead. And, although the practice is pervasive in art used by painters from the Renaissance to the present day, I have never come across any mention of this in the literature. Like the ubiquity of self-representation itself, this particular strategy to convey it, one of many, also remains "unknown".
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If it looks odd, there must be a reason. See Balthus horsing around.
Balthus’ The Moroccan Rider with His Horse (1935)
Even at 17, Giacometti understood the hidden meaning of art
Giacometti’s Self-portrait with Brush (1918)
An obvious example of how later artists can see in an artist's work what we, ordinary viewers, do not.
Larry Rivers’ Déjà vu and the Red Room: Double Portrait of Matisse (1996)
Not a particularly successful picture but an excellent learning tool
Picasso’s Portrait of Jacqueline (1965)
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