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Reflections-Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century

April 10, 2009 - August 16, 2009

Museum: Portrait Gallery

Location: 2nd Floor, West Side

This exhibition of approximately 75 works probes the complex issues of understanding identity in the past century. Included in the exhibition are self portraits by such diverse artists as Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, Louise Nevelson, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Chuck Close, Larry Rivers, Jacob Lawrence, and Faith Ringgold. While the works by these artists reveals traditional themes, including impersonation, reinvention, self-consciousness, vanity, and the complex game of seeing a mirrored image, the exhibition also explores how issues of identity and self-portrayal were bent in new directions in the 20th century as if refracted through a prism.

See "What's Up" in the May 2009 Smithsonian magazine: p. 28.

Related Book: Reflections-Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century

Online Exhibition