Photography and Co-Portraiture

16 January 2019, 16:00-18:00, Room 246, Senate House. 

Abstract:

Portraiture and self-portraiture are familiar categories in the visual arts. I propose to introduce the category of ‘co-portraiture’. A co-portrait is both a portrait and a self-portrait, specifically: the creation of a self-portrait through the creation of a portrait. Numerous works from art history could be profitably re-categorised and the authorial attribution and aesthetic merits of those works better appreciated. Co-portraiture may be feasible in all forms of depiction, but I argue that its most significant potential can be found in photography.