Artist in the Mirror of a Self-Portrait: The Idea and Image in Russian Art of the Early 20th Century

Throughout history, self-portraits have been a product of a certain cultural framework, reflecting the aesthetic notions of the era, the concepts of the nature of creativity and human essence. A surge of interest in self-portraiture is usually observed during unstable, critical times, which require the artist to rethink the fundamental principles of existence and art. One of those periods was the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, when changes, radical in their degree and intensity, became the context for the emergence of numerous artistic systems that took different approaches to the purpose of an artist and his/her role in society. At a time when subjective perception becomes the defining strategy of art, self-portraits are intended to reflect the complexity of life and bring the author and the ideas together on the canvas.

This article analyzes some of the key trends in the transformation of self-portraiture in Russian art at the beginning of the 20th century. For many artists of that period, self-portraiture remained a sphere of self-exploration and giving meaning to one’s personal experience: Z. Serebriakova, M. Chagall, K. Petrov-Vodkin and others created series of self-portraits, capturing their states at different stages of their artistic journey. Often, self-portraits became an artistic expression of the author’s philosophical and aesthetic program, and the imperative of the idea prevailed over the imperative of physical resemblance. For instance, avant-garde artists (members of the Jack of Diamonds, K. Malevich) frequently reduced their visual image to a mask, an inanimate object, or an abstract composition. It is not only the artist’s image that undergoes changes, but also the space around him/her: self-portraits acquire a mythological dimension, which is created by the author as a demiurge.

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