Jeder Kunstler ist ein Mensch: Positionen des Selbstportraits

This volume shows that the self-portrait lost none of its topicality in the second half of the 20th century. The steadily growing importance of photography and film has not threatened the existence of this genre, rather it has widened the range of media in which artistic self-reflection is now carried out. Beginning with the work of Andy Warhol, Bruce Nauman and Joseph Beuys, conceptual and abstract ideas, and also forms of self-portrait that consciously adhere to the traditional medium of painting, are introduced and positioned within a larger art historical context in four essays. The selected positions demonstrate to what extent critical questions of authorship, the individual, gender and genius are discussed and simultaneously how the self-consciousness, pride, weakness, vulnerability and failure of the artist is handled in ever-new forms. The title of the publication refers back to the name of a picture by Martin Kippenberger, which simply reversed the famous Joseph Beuys adage that every human being is an artist. 'Every artist is a human being!' reminds us succinctly and fittingly that artists are also people like you and I. English and German text.