Self portraiture
Hippolyte Bayard is considered an inventor of photography, although he was not recognized in his time for his contributions, as were William Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre. There are self-portraits dating back to the nineteenth century, produced soon after the invention of photography, when it was at the disposal of very few. Self-portraiture in photography and the corresponding concern with one’s image is an old obsession of the few that has become the mainstream norm of the digital and Internet savvy masses. The paper concludes with the idea that while technology and communication patterns and practices have evolved, creating a persona and marketing to others through photography, and the impulses behind such behavior have remained the same. The paper analyzes the parallels among these 19 th century and contemporary examples of photographic self-portraits, specifically looking at concepts of beauty and the body, visual representations of the feminine, truth and accuracy in photography, impulses driving self-marketing, and social practices around photography. In terms of today’s self-portraits, this includes a discussion of technology, communication patterns, and the prevalence of such photography online today. Next, this paper addresses the importance of analyzing photographic self-portraiture in the cultural and social context from which it emerges. The paper explores how the construction of the image of the self relates to concepts of performance, manipulation, control, and perception, and how in fact early self-portraits like those of Mark Twain and the Countess de Castiglione have striking similarities to the millions of self-portraits and portraits of the self published online today (on Facebook, Twitter, and fashion blogs). First, the paper defines self-portraiture and portraits of the self. This paper addresses the similarities and parallels among different types of self-portraiture and portraits of the self in photography using examples from the nineteenth century, when photography was first invented, and from today. Self-portraiture in photography and the corresponding concern with one’s image is an old obsession of the few that has become the widely accepted norm of the digital and Internet-savvy masses. Posted in Issue I Fall 2013 Journal Journal Volume XIV Self- Portraits and Portraits of the Self Online