Eye to I: Self Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery

This richly illustrated book features an introduction by the National Portrait Gallery’s chief curator and nearly 150 insightful entries on key self-portraits in the museum’s collection. Eye to I provides readers with an overview of self-portraiture while revealing the intersections that exist between art, life, and self-representation. Drawing primarily from the museum’s collection, Eye to I explores how American artists have portrayed themselves over the past two centuries. The book shows that while each individual approaches self-portraiture under unique circumstances, all of their representations raise important questions about self-perception and self-reflection. Sometimes artists choose to reveal intimate details of their inner lives. Other times they use the genre to obfuscate their true selves or invent alter egos. Today, with the proliferation of selfies and the contemporary focus on identity, it is time to reassess the significance of the self-portrait. Review "Many self-portraits express how an artist wants to be seen and remembered. . . . Even as it looks a century into the past, Eye to I engages with what the self-portrait means today, in all its complications."--Fine Books and Collections About the Author Brandon Brame Fortune has worked at the National Portrait Gallery since 1987. Her research encompasses eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American portraiture, as well as portraits by modern and contemporary artists. Fortune's most recent publications include America's Presidents: National Portrait Gallery, Elaine de Kooning: Portraits, and Face Value: Portraiture in the Age of Abstraction.