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The Reflected Self: Visual Insight and Imagination in Self-Portraiture

The psychologist Carl Jung believed that the self was divided into multiple parts - some of which were more transparent than others. While Jung’s theory has limited application in psychological science today, one of the most enduring aspects of his work is its contribution to understanding cultural forms and the aesthetics of the visual and literary arts. Jung believed that the aspect of self that was most often revealed to others was the “Persona” - the social face that we display in public, often mask-like in nature and concealing of true identity while at the same time revealing how we are seen in the world. More integral to Jung’s theory was his notion of the “real” self – a more cohesive and true representation of our emotional lives which unifies the many aspects of self as part of a mature developmental process which he called self-actualization and is revealed through images and symbols of meaning to the individual.

The current traveling Eye to I exhibit at the Art Museum of South Texas is a beautifully curated and diverse collection of self-portraits by American artists from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. that offers insight into the maturation and development of artistic self-representation from the directly personal to the deeply symbolic across multiple mediums. As you move through the exhibit you will find images and objects that vary from simple line drawings to complex and highly symbolic representations of both the artists and their craft – images that fall across the continuum from the persona to real self. As all self-portraiture is by its very nature self-reflective, given that the artist cannot “see” themselves and must use a reflected visual image - whether they are doing a traditional portrait or using a more symbolic image, these representations can never essentially be “true” as a complete, accurate and absolutely revealing image. They must by necessity be interpreted through the eye of the viewer for both meaning and emotional impact. Thus, they are interpersonal, intimate and often compelling as they reflect not only the artist’s intention but also the subjective experience of the viewer who uses their own personal experience to cast back against the image for meaning.

Whether more “realistic” or “symbolic” the images in the exhibit reveal both personal and public aspects of each artist’s persona. For example, in the lithograph of Mabel Dwight the tilt of her head signifies her reflective glance rendered against a dark shadowed background, her pen poised in the creation of her image. The portrait creates a feeling as if she is a friend – the black and white contrast focuses your gaze on her features more clearly without the distraction of color - refined and calming – she wants you to see her. In the black and white photograph of Hans Namuth the gaze is direct and forceful – the camera lens aligned with his eye, intimating a sense that the viewer is also being seen by the artist. The brilliant colors in the print by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons demand that you see her color, the white headdress emphasizing a sense of spiritual transcendence, the exotic vermillion background echoing the flower she cradles.

A highly stylized pencil drawing by Patti Smith shouts punk with brooding eyes, heavily lined, darkly drawing you into her as she cradles a childlike memento of lost love. Roger Shimonmura’s canvas is especially timely as it contrasts the symbols of American freedom against the background a traditional Japanese woodblock print – freedom is threatened by the brooding black clouds against the red, white and blue horizon – the choppy waves threaten to capsize the boat, the ghost image in the background is black as death. He asks us to see him and the precarious nature of his journey as an Asian American. Most evocative of Jung’s use of symbolism to denote identity is Robert Rauschenberg’s triptych of multimedia panels showing the artist laid bare to the bone, his life narrative unwinds in a spiral across the second panel, brought home to his birthplace in Port Arthur TX on the last panel. The most solid and literal self-representation of the artist as craft is Robert Arneson’s terracotta brick – his hand visible in the signature on its side; its weight solid and substantial, referencing a career exploring the use of ceramics as a vehicle of identity.

The works represented in this exhibition invites introspection and enhance our understanding of each artist’s work, as well as our understanding of ourselves. As a clinical psychologist, the viewing and interpretation of each of the images and objects in the exhibit provide many parallels to the process of psychotherapy in which the therapist gleans insight into the client through their reflected image – often juxtaposed against our own understanding of self as we tease out the truth from the information we are shown as projected against our own emotional landscape.

The truth is always relative of course – I invite you to explore your own truth as you explore the many extraordinary works found in the exhibition.

- DR. PAMELA J. BROUILLARD

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