#SELFIE

Selfie was the Oxford International Word of the Year in 2013. According to Oxford
Dictionaries website, use of the word in the English language increased more than 17,000 per
cent through the year after being thrown around on various online forums since 2002. Its
definition reads, a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a
smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website. The colloquial understanding
draws a different picture from the definition; selfies are indicative of the narcissistic
millennials and their undying need for attention. Yet, the word itself is shorthand for self-
portrait, and self-portraiture is nothing new, and the concept is not unique to this twenty-
something generation. A self-portrait is conveniently defined on Oxford Dictionaries website
as a portrait of an artist produced or created by that artist, and portrait as a painting,
drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting the face or head and
shoulders. This is typically the format a selfie takes, so is it so far off to consider selfies popular
self-portraiture and, by extension, regard them as a legitimate art?
The self-portrait precedes the selfie, but raises new questions about personal, cultural,
and socio-economic identity that had seemingly gone unasked for centuries. Technological
advances and the process of globalization allowed self portraiture to spread across and pervade
cultures. Because more people have access to this established art form, they are taking advantage
of it and highlighting its importance in celebrating self and diversity. It is not always received
this way, though. Debates are spurred regularly on whether or not selfies detract from or add to
the feminist cause. This question had not been asked before social media and smartphone
cameras came into vogue, so what changed?
1. Rembrandt: The original Snapchatter #picoftheday
Rembrandt van Rijn is a 17th century Dutch painter that remains at the forefront of our
cultural memory. His propensity to use his own image as a model for later works sets him apart
from other artists; his face is generally recognizable because of his self-portraits. The National
Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. holds a number of his pieces, including etched self-portraits.
Seven of these etchings are particularly expressive as they highlight the distortive effects
changing moods can have on perceived identity.
In 1630, when Rembrandt was 24, he etched a series of self-portraits depicting various
expressions in a hopefully-admittedly sketchy style. He is frowning, laughing, smiling, and
appearing emotionally ambiguous in a succession that mimics a Snapchat story. Over time, his
technique developed and his etchings became more detailed by including finer and more lines.
By 1648, he was showing himself in a particular outfit with a defined plumed hat and buttoned
shirt, as opposed to his fur coats and plain hats from earlier images. He also looked at himself
from more angles in these pieces, showing a depth of identity. This change shows how he
developed over time.
Rembrandt goes from bluntly introspective by only showing his face to revealing other
vital parts of his persona through including his wife Saskia and himself writing by a window,
neither of which he would have done in his earlier years. Because he constantly looked to
himself as his subject, he created a body of work for others to view him as a whole person, not a
character study. Just as we twenty-somethings will grow up, Rembrandt stopped thinking of
himself as the center of the universe. Though Kanye West may not ever reach that conclusion,
its likely the general populace will, as has happened for innumerable generations.
Today, Rembrandt is known as a king of self-portraiture and James Franco is the king of
the selfie. Their persistent looking to self as subject matter keeps them in cultural memory.
Franco wrote an article for the New York Times saying selfies are all about garnering attention,
and Rembrandt accomplished the same goal, whether intentionally or otherwise.
James Franco wrote an article few months ago for the New York Times called The
Meaning of the Selfie wherein he addresses the cultural compulsion for selfie-taking, citing his
own role within the movement. On the Today Show, Savanna Guthrie pointed out to Franco that
he steeped his social media profiles with images of himself; if you Google selfie king, you will
see his face instantly. Why does he take snapshots of himself? Apparently, its an attention plea.
Franco is accomplished as an actor, director, and screenwriter with a side career as a lecturer at
Yale University. Impressive, yes, but these accomplishments do not get the likes he uses social
media for, and his face establishes his celebrity status.
He addresses the difference between the celebrity selfie and that of a non-celebrity; the
provide, a chance for subjects to glam it up, to show off a special side of themselves, and that
is not a bad thing. As for the yearning for attention argument, he counters the naysayers by
addressing we exist in a visual culture in which, the selfie quickly and easily shows, not tells,
how youre feeling, where you are, what youre doing. After all, a picture is worth a thousand
words and a Tweet is worth 140 characters.
2. Ilse Bing: The original Instagrammer #artsy
Ilse Bing, a 20th century German-born American, is the first female photographer to be
included in the self-portrait collection of the National Gallery of Art. Her subject matter varies
drastically, though it typically does include her own image. It is sometimes difficult to discern
where she is in a given composition, but it is an extension of herself, which makes it solidly self-
portraiture.
Photography and its subsequent advancements have provided a platform for more people
to take part in creating art for arts sake. In recent years, with the development of the front-facing
camera on smartphones, photography has become something of an opportunity for people to both
express themselves and create artworks for the masses. Ilse Bing was the face of this movement
because she chose photography as her medium early in her career and decidedly photographed
herself for years. After a while, however, she decided to stop photographing herself and swore
off the medium of photography completely.
Though her reasoning behind quitting photography is unknown, she set a precedent of
photographing herself that is obviously relevant today. Beyond the medium, that she was
photographing herself as a female as the artist for a piece, rather than being a Saskia to someone
elses Rembrandt. This has the potential to raise the feminist question; are selfies moving against
feminism or with it?
The debate has been going on since the coining of the term because females are
traditionally the ones posting selfies on social media sites. That this is seen as both narcissistic
and appearance-centric negates what Ilse Bing attempted to accomplish in taking pictures of
herself. She provided images of herself within varied settings across a long period of time and
often suggested her own image within a photograph was secondary to the external circumstances.
Rather than showing herself as the center of the universe, she provided an identity recognizable
to varied audiences.
Erin Gloria Ryan, News Editor for Jezebel, an online forum with a feminist focus, wrote
a piece for the site, Selfies Arent Empowering. Theyre a Cry for Help. last November. Her
initial attack on a phenomenon the majority of women partake in (with the resources at their
disposal, of course) is confrontational in a way selfies do not strive to be as an art. The ways in
which I choose to express myself are not supposed to offend anyone - I want to connect with
others by showing both my beauties and my flaws. Rather than recognizing their potential
benefits, Ryan slams selfies as being, a high tech reflection of the fucked up way society
teaches women that their most important quality is their physical attractiveness. Now, it may
just be me, but because of selfies, the people I surround myself with have seen me at my most-
chinned, least-made-up self and reciprocated my gift of honest self-portrayal with their own
downright unattractive images.
Ryan would have a point, but she counters herself by noting some women, post pictures
of themselves wearing cool sunglasses or lipstick or hats, which [Ryan feels] is not technically a
selfie because the point of a pure selfie is HERES MY FACE. But are those things people
find interesting an extension of their identity? If not, scratch the generations of artists that
portrayed either themselves or their portrait sitters that created images of people with what is
important to them, or what makes them unique. Does she want selfies with cool sunglasses or
lipstick or hats to become the norm, and take away the #iwokeuplikedis, make-up-less, natural
faces? Well, Ryan probably would appreciate Ilse Bings self-portraits because they are #artsy
and focus on something other than just her face - but selfies can do that, too. The feminist
question is still important, but questioning whether the work for or against feminism does not
take away the cultural importance of either empowering women or publicizing ones identity
through selfies posted on social media.
3. Rembrandt van Rijn and Ilse Bing are only a small section of the population using self-
portraiture to establish identity across cultures and other identifying characteristics. The National
Gallery of Art contains a plethora of self-portraits attributed to other artists within the print,
drawing, and photography collections. The selected pieces have little to do with one another,
other than the fact that they are self-portraits in the same collection depicting scenes like those
we would choose today for our selfies.
Selfies can happen anywhere and with anyone, or with any expression. Bars (and other
venues for alcohol consumption) are surely no stranger to the impromptu self-portrait, and
people have been showing themselves drinking for decades. Once in a lifetime opportunities turn
into photo-ops every day, and this has been going on longer than we can imagine. The only
difference between capturing a seventeen-year-old boys expression in the mid-1800s and today
is the medium with which the image is taken. The same concepts have pervaded centuries and
cultures, so the selfie movement is nothing new and ought to be taken with a grain of salt and
heap of whimsy.

Additional readings are included as links throughout the exhibition, should you choose to
delve deeper. To continue the conversation, send a comment or Tweet @HashtagExhibitions.
Send more images this way, as well.






Sophie Huget, May 2014