Identity in Art

A few definitions of Identity

• Self-image or self-concept. Who people take themselves to be.

• The way a person or a group perceives themselves in relation to the world, including other people and groups

• Who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group which make them different from others.

How do the following Artworks show Identity?

Who is he?

What about her?

There are many kinds of Identity – Emotional, Physical, Cultural, Social, etc.

You have to find the way to show that Identity through your art.

How much do you hide? Do you reveal?

William Ranney (1813–1857)Veterans of 1776 Returning from the War, 1848

Is there something that can represent you and not be your picture?

The founders of DNA 11 realized that the regalia of

identity. Their service, DNA 11, creates personalized art

pieces based on DNA or finger prints.

This ushers in a new form of democratizing art: Instead of the artist and his uniqueness,

the art piece solely showcases the uniqueness of the owner.

It is an ironic twist that the idea of uniqueness is being

mass produced

A couple of Photographers outlook on capturing Identity

Edward Steichen

• Born March 27, 1879 in Luxembourg.

• An American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator

• Said to embody the development of utilitarian photography in the 20th century

• Died March 25, 1973

Self-Portrait, Milwaukee1898

GLORIA SWANSON, NEW YORK 1924

GRETA GARBO, 1928

MARLENE DIETRICH, 1934.

Henri Matisse and "The Serpentine"c. 1909

ANNA MAY WONG, 1903.

FRED ASTAIRE DANS LE FILM, TOP HAT. NEW YORK, 1927.

Dorothea Lang

• 1895–1965• Was a talented American photographer• As a child, she was disabled by polio and this

added to her life long compassion and sympathy for the disadvantaged and disenfranchised in life.

• Artistically, Dorothea Lange’s work profoundly influenced American photojournalism with its directness and simplicity

• Her best known photos were taken during the Great Depression

http://paulturounetblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/dorothea-lange_migrant-mother-composite.jpg

Cindy Sherman

• In Sherman's distinctive self-portraits she is dressed up and made up to portray hundreds of different women and occasionally men, but never herself.

• She says her art deals with female stereotypes, and they are portraits not of how she sees herself but how she sees men seeing women.

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/sherman/sherman_10_full.html

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/sherman/sherman_53_full.html