Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture

Wendy Wick Reaves

Hardcover | 24.38 x 3.56 x 26.67 cm | 328 pp

D Giles | 2018 | 9781911282204

Is there more to portraiture than eyes meeting eyes? Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture presents sixteen essays by leading scholars who explore the subtle means by which artists – and subjects – convey a sense of identity and reveal historical context. Written by some of today’s very best scholars in the field, these ground-breaking essays range from an exploration of iconoclasm in the eighteenth century, to an analysis of contemporary artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s emotional and affecting performance pieces.

Examining a wide range of topics, from early caricature and political vandalism of portraits to contemporary selfies and performance art, these studies challenge our traditional assumptions about portraiture. By probing the diversity and complexity of portrayal, Beyond the Face fills a gap in current scholarship and offers a resource for teaching art history, subjectivity, and the construction of identity.

This book engages both general and scholarly audiences who are interested in gaining a better understanding of the ever-changing and challenging genre of portraiture.