In 1966, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery founded
the Catalog of American Portraits (CAP), a national portrait archives of
historically notable subjects and artists from the colonial period to current
times. The public is welcome to access
the online portrait search program from the museum website of over 100,000
records. The CAP program can be reviewed
at the following National Portrait Gallery website link http://www.npg.si.edu/research/ceros.html.
Self-Portrait, by John
Singleton Copley, 1780-1784, oil on canvas, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.77.22 |
Artists’ self-portraits are one of the hidden treasures of
the Catalog of American Portraits. Our
museum research center lists public collections which include American artists’
self-portraits, such as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art
Institute of Chicago; Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Academy of
Design, New York City; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Royal
Academy of Arts, London; American Academy in Rome; and the Uffizi Gallery,
Florence. Artists have been encouraged
to create self-portraits for display at academy and museum collections. The Royal Academy of Arts in London holds a remarkable
1793 oil painting of Benjamin West, who served as the Academy president from
1792 until his death in 1820. He
portrays himself formally seated in the president’s chair with symbols of his
artistic and intellectual interests. Benjamin
West drew a circle of American artists to England as his students,
including John Singleton Copley. Circa
1780-1784, Copley depicted himself in a reflective mood within a rondel bust
painting. His gaze is averted away from
the viewer suggesting that he might have used two mirrors for this unusual
pose.
Self-Portrait, by
Sarah Miriam Peale, circa 1818, oil on canvas, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.84.178 |
The artist and inventor Samuel Finley Breese Morse became a founder in 1826 of the National Academy of Design in New York City, and his self-portraits are held at the National Academy and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. In his circa 1809-1810 miniature, Morse depicts himself in the process of painting, holding his paint brush and palette. Morse is well known for his creation of the 1838 model for the modern telegraph. However, he is considered one of America’s leading artists of the romantic school.
George Peter
Alexander Healy was a celebrated
portraitist and the first American
artist honored by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to present his 1875 oil
portrait to the international self-portrait collection. In this painting, Healy employs a frontal
pose, confidently looking directly at the viewer. The Uffizi Gallery features more than twenty
art works by Americans, including Cecilia Beaux, John Singer Sargent, Robert
Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. A
leading portraitist and educator, Cecilia Beaux reveals a remarkable artistic evolution
from the youthful 1894 self-portrait at the National Academy of Design to her
somber 1925 composition at the Uffizi Gallery.
Self-Portrait, by Lee Simonson, circa 1912, oil on canvas, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.77.239 |
Self-Portrait with
Squash, by Stanton MacDonald-Wright, 1951, oil on wood,
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, NPG.81.119 |
Contemporary portraiture is continuously expanding this
sense of experimentation in terms of concept, technique, and medium. Exciting and thought-provoking self-portraits
are an integral part of the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait
Competition. American artists are
encouraged to enter in this portrait competition which takes place every three
years with the fifty finalists’ art works exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery.
-Patricia H. Svoboda, Research Coordinator
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Catalog of American
Portraits
Websites:
Self-Portrait, byBenjamin West, 1793, oil on panel, Royal Academy of Arts, 03/285, London
Self-Portrait, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, circa 1809-1810, watercolor on ivory, National Academy of Design, 894-P, New York City (please search for no. 894-P at this link)
The Artist in His Museum, by Charles Willson Peale, 1822, oil on canvas, 1878.1.2,Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Self-Portrait, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, circa 1809-1810, watercolor on ivory, National Academy of Design, 894-P, New York City (please search for no. 894-P at this link)
The Artist in His Museum, by Charles Willson Peale, 1822, oil on canvas, 1878.1.2,Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Self-Portrait, by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1875, oil on canvas, Uffizi Gallery, 2106,Florence (please search for no. 2106 at this link)
Self-Portrait, byCecilia Beaux, 1894, oil on canvas, National Academy of Design, 67-P, New York City (please search for no. 67-P at this
link)
Bibliography:
Carolyn Kinder Carr and Ellen G. Miles; foreword by Marc
Pachter; with an essay by Margaret C.S. Christman, A Brush with History: Paintings from the National Portrait Gallery. Washington, DC: Smithsonian National Portrait
Gallery, 2000.
Ann C. Van Devanter and Alfred V. Frankenstein et al., American Self-Portraits, 1670-1973. Washington
DC: International Exhibitions Foundation, exhibition held at the Smithsonian
National Portrait Gallery and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1974.
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