Papers by Martin Hesselbein
The playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt found inspiration for a painting when dropping in on the trad... more The playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt found inspiration for a painting when dropping in on the traditional Christmas lunch for the poor, held in Trastevere, Rome, organized by the Comunità di Sant'Egidio. Communicated by Maria Bosio, a television journalist, to the present author, who sets the episode in the context of Dürrenmatts pictorial oeuvre and its reception.
Analysis of preliminary sketches for this painting show that Picasso intentionally introduced an ... more Analysis of preliminary sketches for this painting show that Picasso intentionally introduced an unnatural-looking detail: a pipe in the wrong perspective. This play with multiple perspectives, used here one year before Les Demoiselles d'Avignon of 1906/1907, gradually became a device that paved the way to 'Multiple Perspective Images' and Cubism.
A Flemish drawing of the 17th century representing The Five Senses is attributed to this artist.
Gavarni seen by Van Gogh, 2016
Synopsis
Gavarni’s images testify to the manifold and interwoven manifestations of culture in the... more Synopsis
Gavarni’s images testify to the manifold and interwoven manifestations of culture in the mid-nineteenth century. Informed by his contacts with writers, scientists and fashion designers, his unpretentious images not only fuelled intellectual discourse and inspired other, more famous artists, but they are still of interest to art history, sociology and gender studies (Chapter 1).
A quantified comparison of Van Gogh’s references to Gavarni and Daumier in his letters (three themes in a timeline presented in six visualizations) shows that Gavarni’s influence on Van Gogh has been underestimated (Chapter 6).
Van Gogh’s understanding of the role of the artist in society was shaped primarily by the biography of Gavarni. He saw him as a hero who was at home in both high and low social circles, which not only appealed to the young Van Gogh as a do-gooder, but also helped him to cut his ties to rural Brabant (Chapter 2).
Gavarni was not just a role model; he was also one of Van Gogh’s sources. The works by Gavarni in Van Gogh’s collection show his interest in Gavarni’s approach to portraiture (Chapter 4). Several of Van Gogh’s early drawings betray Gavarni’s influence with regard to the figures’ poses and handling of materials. Van Gogh’s inclusion of text in a drawing was also inspired by Gavarni (Chapter 5).
There is circumstantial evidence which suggests that Van Gogh might well have drawn the portrait of the bookseller Blok as partial payment for an album of Gavarni lithographs, and could have funded the rest with the money enclosed in a supposedly lost letter from Theo (Chapter 3).
The attribution of the handwriting on the versos of a number of mounted and loose prints by Gavarni might clarify who did the mounting. Perhaps Van Gogh did it himself at the asylum in St. Remy at a time when he was not allowed to paint (Chapter 4).
Disgused and Applied Self-Portraits, 2020
A short presentation of particular self-projections in 16th and 17th-century art, among them newl... more A short presentation of particular self-projections in 16th and 17th-century art, among them newly discovered self-images by Raphael, Reni, Durer, Baldung, and Brouwer.
I propose the term ‘applied self-portrait’ as a sub-category of the ‘self-portrait in disguise’. The latter is used to describe ‘fanciful dressing up’, ‘hiding as’, 'passing incognito while wearing a wig'; the ‘applied self-portrait’ implies a commitment, stepping into a role within the iconography, a declaration of belief, a deliberate stepping forward. This type of analysis renders visible not only the artist’s self-indulgence and keen sense of marketability, but also his motives, aspirations, and vulnerabilities.
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Papers by Martin Hesselbein
Gavarni’s images testify to the manifold and interwoven manifestations of culture in the mid-nineteenth century. Informed by his contacts with writers, scientists and fashion designers, his unpretentious images not only fuelled intellectual discourse and inspired other, more famous artists, but they are still of interest to art history, sociology and gender studies (Chapter 1).
A quantified comparison of Van Gogh’s references to Gavarni and Daumier in his letters (three themes in a timeline presented in six visualizations) shows that Gavarni’s influence on Van Gogh has been underestimated (Chapter 6).
Van Gogh’s understanding of the role of the artist in society was shaped primarily by the biography of Gavarni. He saw him as a hero who was at home in both high and low social circles, which not only appealed to the young Van Gogh as a do-gooder, but also helped him to cut his ties to rural Brabant (Chapter 2).
Gavarni was not just a role model; he was also one of Van Gogh’s sources. The works by Gavarni in Van Gogh’s collection show his interest in Gavarni’s approach to portraiture (Chapter 4). Several of Van Gogh’s early drawings betray Gavarni’s influence with regard to the figures’ poses and handling of materials. Van Gogh’s inclusion of text in a drawing was also inspired by Gavarni (Chapter 5).
There is circumstantial evidence which suggests that Van Gogh might well have drawn the portrait of the bookseller Blok as partial payment for an album of Gavarni lithographs, and could have funded the rest with the money enclosed in a supposedly lost letter from Theo (Chapter 3).
The attribution of the handwriting on the versos of a number of mounted and loose prints by Gavarni might clarify who did the mounting. Perhaps Van Gogh did it himself at the asylum in St. Remy at a time when he was not allowed to paint (Chapter 4).
I propose the term ‘applied self-portrait’ as a sub-category of the ‘self-portrait in disguise’. The latter is used to describe ‘fanciful dressing up’, ‘hiding as’, 'passing incognito while wearing a wig'; the ‘applied self-portrait’ implies a commitment, stepping into a role within the iconography, a declaration of belief, a deliberate stepping forward. This type of analysis renders visible not only the artist’s self-indulgence and keen sense of marketability, but also his motives, aspirations, and vulnerabilities.