Self-portraits, part 1

 Here are some of my favourite self-portraits by photographers. 

"The tool of every self-portrait is the mirror. You see yourself in it. Turn it the other way, and you see the world."
- Agnes Varda

Erwin Blumenfeld's self-portrait as a Minotaur, c. 1936

Autoportrait de Nadar, c. 1854-1860

Robert Mapplethorpe, Self-portrait with cigarette, 1980

Constantin Brancusi, Autoportrait caché d'une main, October 1933

Dieter Appelt, Self-portrait, 1988

Florence Henri, Autoportrait (aux cadres), 1938

Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait in Drag (Long Reddish-Brown Wig and Plaid Tie), polaroid, c. 1981-82

Otto Umbehr, aka Umbo, c. 1930

Vivian Maier, Self-portrait, 1950s

 Frances Benjamin Johnston, Self-portrait, 1896

David Seidner, Self-portrait, 1992

Juergen Teller, Self Portrait, 2015 

Ellen Von Unwerth, Self-portrait, 2012

Another self-portrait of Erwin Blumenfeld, or two, from Paris, c. 1937

Shane Balkowitsch, "The Reflection of Shadow Catcher" - Self Portrait in Mirror, 2019

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Self-portrait as Napoleon, c. 1937-39

Portraits by Jérôme De Perlinghi

Jérôme De Perlinghi is one of my favourite portrait photographers; here is a selection of his finest work. I don't have dates for most of these, but they're all from 1984-2011.

Martin Scorsese

Norm! George Wendt by Jerome De Perlinghi

Gena Rowlands 

Screamin' Jay Hawkins, 1998

Studs Terkel 

John Eliot Gardiner by Jérôme de Perlinghi, 1997. National Portrait Gallery, London.

Seiji Ozawa by Jerome De Perlinghi, 2001. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC.

Glenn Close

Rita Moreno

David Lynch

Jim Harrison

Spike Lee

Sandra Oh

Frederick Wiseman

Morgan Freeman by Jérôme De Perlinghi, 1997. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC.

A self-portrait by Jérôme De Perlinghi. Of course it's undated.

Robin Platzer portraits

Robin Platzer took amazing photographs at Studio 54 and other venues during the 1970s. Here are some of my favourite shots from that fabulous decade, with a few from the slightly less fabulous 80s.

David Bowie and Ava Cherry at the Lajeski gallery, 1975.

Cher by Robin Platzer, Studio 54, c. 1977

Bob Colacello, Jerry Hall, Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Truman Capote & Paloma Picasso. A great shot by Robin Platzer, taken at Interview’s 10th Anniversary party, 1979.

Robin Platzer's shot of Rod Stewart, Alana Hamilton and Elton John at Studio 54, c. 1977.

Halston, Bianca Jagger, Jack Haley Jr., Liza Minnelli and Michael Jackson. Another great Robin Platzer group portrait from Studio 54, from 1977.

Carrie Fisher and Paul Simon by Robin Platzer, New York, 1983.

This New Year's Eve 1978 shot from Studio 54 might be Robin Platzer's most famous photograph: Halston (kissing Naomi Sims), Bianca Jagger, Jack Haley Jr., Liza Minnelli and Andy Warhol. 

Jimmy Page by Robin Platzer, 1978

What a lovely shot of the late Penny Marshall, by Robin Platzer, c. 1980.

Kim Novak is looking good in this 1981 shot by Robin Platzer.

A rare non-nightclub photo by Robin Platzer: Al Pacino on a New York street, 1977. This has a great paparazzi vibe.

The voice of the decade: Donna Summer by Robin Platzer, New York, 1979.

This is unexpected: Christie Brinkley with the great photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue, by Robin Platzer, c. 1982.

I love this 1977 Robin Platzer shot of Al Pacino and Marthe Keller.

Here's Robin Platzer herself, in an undated photo by Andy Warhol, from the Hofstra University Museum of Fine Art.

All right, everybody: Let's Dance!

Portraits of Painters, part 2

 So I've been on the lookout for painter portraits for this series. This one jumped out at me:

Fernand Léger by Robert Doisneau, 1954.

This is what people have called an "environmental portrait", most often in connection with Arnold Newman (who didn't like the term). Willy Ronis referred to this as "a character in situation, the interest being distributed at the same time on the man and on the environment."

Keith Haring photographed by Annie Leibovitz, 1992. About as "environmental" as you can get!

Sam Francis by Hans Namuth, 1989

Rudy Burkhardt took this shot of Robert De Niro Sr. in his studio around 1958. It's one of the greatest artist studio portraits ever taken. I have it set as my Macbook wallpaper.

Here's a painter I don't know at all: Agathe Vaïto, in her Paris studio. She was married to the Paris art gallery owner Pierre Loeb. This superb portrait is by Denise Colomb, from 1955. 

Kay Bell Reynal's great photo of Mark Rothko in his studio in 1952.

What a lovely portrait of Constantin Brancusi in his Paris studio, by Wayne Miller, 1946.

A great, undated, portrait by Nico Coster of Paul Citroen in his studio.

Georgia O’Keeffe by Lawrence Fried. This was taken at the 1970 O'Keeffe Retrospective at the Whitney Museum.

Alexander Liberman, Agnes Martin with Level and Ladder, 1960.

Georges Braque by Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1947.

David Hockney & Lucian Freud by David Dawson, 2003. From the National Portrait Gallery collection in London.

 

Freud sat for a Hockney portrait for 4 hours. Hockney sat for Freud's for 120 hours: "He paints slowly and he gossips."

Francis Bacon in his studio; a wonderful shot by Jane Bown, 1980.

Willem de Kooning in 1944; a marvellous portrait of the young painter by Ellen Auerbach.

Bridget Riley by Tony Evans, 1964.