Jada Bennett

Abstract: This collection is an artistic exploration that investigates and then appropriates the self-portraits of five canonical modern artists including Paul Gauguin, Egon Schiele, Henri Matisse, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Pablo Picasso. The work bridges the process of art history study with that of studio creation in which the researcher is informed by theory and history to then render herself in self-portrait utilizing the style and composition of each artist. "Modern", in this context, refers to an art historical time period between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The project began as a investigation into the visual language of gendered power imbalance within the period, but ultimately reveals the necessity of intersectionality in feminist art historical criticism for the era as well as the difficulty of addressing and responding to the canon through lenses of contemporary systemic injustice. The artist specifically considers the extensive images of female nudes present in each artist's catalogue as a point of comparison. Foundational texts on nineteenth century academic french art, feminist art theory, and the avant-garde are considered as well as contemporary articles and papers on each artist and art movement individually. Concepts gathered from these texts include Lynda Nead's discussion of containment, the development of avant-garde aesthetics as predisposed by academic practices, and the inspiration of modernist practices and content having been based in a variety of sources including non-European art, alternative religion, medical voyeurism, turn of the century identity crises, and more. The ultimate product calls into question the nature of successfully addressing feminist concerns where they intersect with issues of race, medicine, sexuality, and more. This method of exploring canonical artists and works via recreation creates a motivation to work past merely perceiving a style into a comprehensive understanding of it, its broader cultural context, and its contemporary implications.