![self-portraiture self-portraiture](https://www.theleidencollection.com/wp-content/uploads/downloadable/RR-110-Rembrandt_van_Rijn-Self-Portrait_with_Shaded_Eyes.jpg)
Whereas in fine-art portraiture the sitter is nothing more than a symbol for the artist, a concrete object in the artist’s frame, for the artist to depict the artist’s ideas and emotions. In other words object matter (what is captured in the frame) = subject matter (what is conveyed). The sitter is then to be taken literally the way the sitter wants to depict him/herself or the product the sitter is promoting. What separates the latter from all the former portraits? All non-fine-art portraits have but one goal and it’s not a fine-art one: to capture a person for a specific purpose – sometimes commercial, sometimes documentary – other than the purpose of the artist’s self-expression. Consequently, this part is not about the glamour-portrait, the fashion portrait, the editorial portrait, the corporate portrait, the news or documentary portrait, but about the fine-art portrait.
![self-portraiture self-portraiture](https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/027/921/405/large/daniel-stockbridge-img-3141-copy.jpg)
One might hope that we’ve already come to the point that we all know that fine-art is more than just a beautiful photo.
![self-portraiture self-portraiture](https://cdn.britannica.com/82/190482-050-33D2C4C5/Self-Portrait-canvas-Rembrandt-van-Rijn-Washington-DC.jpg)
Talking about subject matter and object matter is more than just semantics: use of those words imply a basic understanding of the essence of fine-art and how it should be approached. A news photo of a car crash has an object matter, the factual car crash, and a subject matter, a car crash, that are exactly the same. After all the photo is meant to show the latest iPhone. in a beautiful photo of the latest iPhone, the phone is the object matter and the subject matter. A photograph that is not fine-art on the other hand, for example, a product photograph or a news photograph has a subject matter that is equal to the object matter/ E.g. So, for example, Stieglitz’s cloud photographs have as object-matter the clouds but his subject matter, the meaning of it, as he stated himself, is something entirely different. My premise is then that a fine-art photograph always has a subject matter that is not equal to the object matter. In other words: the thing you capture in your frame, be it through painting or photography, is the object-matter, the thing you want to convey, the message or meaning, is the subject matter. Newman then replied that an abstract painting has a subject matter, namely what the painter wanted to convey as a meaning with the abstract painting, but there’s no concrete and defined object matter. I came to this after seeing/reading (I forgot exactly) an interview with painter Barnett Newman, attempting to explain abstract painting that doesn’t have a clear ‘subject matter’. In essence, every visual depiction has an object matter and a subject matter and not just a subject matter, contrary to how most people would usually refer to visual depictions. A mirror of the psyche.īefore continuing, I need to segue into a brief explanation of my own use of words and phrases related to fine-art photography of which I believe make it easier to understand fine-art as opposed to non-fine-art and it’s something I wrote about some time ago here. More concretely, the clouds that Stieglitz photographed for example and called Equivalents weren’t meant to be clouds, they were meant to symbolize specific emotions or experiences he’s had. When Minor White stated that all photographs are essentially self-portraits then how does this apply to portraits and self-portraits if all photographs are already self-portraits? How would he explain that idea to portraiture? I can’t say I know what he would make of this, but I have my own thoughts on this.īut first, when Minor White states that all photographs essentially are self-portraits, then I am assuming he’s referring to fine-art photographs, as that is the only type of photography that has a different meaning (subject matter) than what you concretely capture in the frame (object matter). Today’s column is on portraiture and self-portraiture in photography. In any case they all only express a personal opinion. Column 3 with my short opinion on current (photography) affairs or just another short thought related to photography.