美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Eye To I' Exhibition Celebrates Over A Century Of Self-Portraiture

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

At some point in their lives, many artists spend time painting themselves - self-portraits that express who they are at a particular moment. Washington's National Portrait Gallery is showing over 70 such works. Edward Hopper, at 21, is moody¹ in a charcoal² turtleneck. Diego Rivera does not disguise his double chin. Jim Dine has no chin, eyes or mouth. He's headless. He just etches his bathrobe. NPR's special correspondent Susan Stamberg has more.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE³: Why are there so many self-portraits?

KIM SAJET: Artists will tell you they're available.

STAMBERG: Kim Sajet is director of the Portrait Gallery.

SAJET: In the middle of the night, when the urge strikes, you've got yourself.

STAMBERG: Or they can't afford a model or they're vain or - curator Brandon Fortune's theory - they're working out technical problems.

BRANDON FORTUNE: But they're also done as a kind of self-reflection, to present a persona to the world that may not be true or authentic⁴ but is the character that the artist wants to be remembered as.

STAMBERG: Alice Neel's self-portrait, begun when she was 75, is as authentic, as vital, as she was on NPR at age 79.

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ALICE NEEL: I am known primarily for my obsession⁵ with humanoids. That's true.

STAMBERG: Painting herself, seated in a comfy blue and white striped chair, Neel was ruthless and brave.

FORTUNE: She's entirely⁶ nude⁷. Her breasts are sagging⁸.

STAMBERG: Her belly⁹ bulges¹⁰. Her lips turn down. There's a brush in her right hand, a bright, white rag in the left.

FORTUNE: She said at one point that this portrait was really hard to make. She said, it was so hard that my cheeks got red with the effort.

STAMBERG: No wonder. Alice Neel is taking on the entire history of nude paintings, mostly starting in the 16th century made by men. Historically, the male gaze was loving, lustful¹¹, idealistic.

FORTUNE: And she just flips¹² it. She takes control of the gaze. It's her gaze. She takes control of the way that her body is going to be presented.

STAMBERG: An act of truth and audacity¹³ - so different from the way painter Thomas Hart Benton showed himself in 1924. He was on Martha's Vineyard, crazy about his new wife, Rita, and the movies.

SAJET: Thomas Hart Benton's portrait makes him look out to be some Hollywood, dashing superstar.

STAMBERG: Swashbuckling, black-moustached, muscled and hunky.

FORTUNE: Stripped to the waist...

STAMBERG: Hunky.

FORTUNE: It is definitely an assertion of vigor¹⁴, wouldn't you say?

STAMBERG: Indeed - and sexy.

FORTUNE: Very much so.

STAMBERG: The photograph Walker Evans took of himself in 1934 is neither vigorous nor preening¹⁵. He was working for the Farm Security Administration, hired to document the Depression's effect on Americans.

FORTUNE: He's, at the end of the day, photographing misery¹⁶ and seeing how people are forced to live during this terrible time in our history.

STAMBERG: Walker Evans' eyes hold pain. His face is full of compassion¹⁷. He has seen awful things, and making sure we see them, too. There's no way not to see Chuck Close's self-portrait. He has taken 16 big, Polaroid glossies¹⁸, each one measuring 20 by 24 inches, and linked them mosaic-like into a huge color image - about 9 by 7 feet huge.

FORTUNE: We are seeing Close's face, bearded, wearing his round glasses, looking straight out at us.

STAMBERG: The work is especially gripping now as Chuck Close's National Gallery exhibit was recently canceled after accusations¹⁹ of sexual harassment²⁰, for which he apologized. His self-portrait was done following a personal tragedy. The artist was left paralyzed after a spinal²¹ artery²² collapse²³ in 1988.

FORTUNE: He made this Polaroid the following year. And he's looking for ways to make art that can be done by someone who is a quadriplegic.

STAMBERG: But he's also - I mean, it's so rich with meaning or a way to interpret it is saying, I'm going to surmount²⁴ this. I'm larger than what's happened to me. I'm still here.

FORTUNE: I think you're absolutely right.

STAMBERG: They're all still here in this National Portrait Gallery show on view until mid-August - messages to the future in oil, lithograph²⁵, pencil, charcoal, video - how artists saw themselves, how they wanted us to see them. In Washington, I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF GRANDBROTHERS' "LONDON BRIDGES")

1 moody   

adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的

参考例句：

• He relapsed into a moody silence.他又重新陷于忧郁的沉默中。
• I'd never marry that girl.She's so moody.我决不会和那女孩结婚的。她太易怒了。

2 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

5 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

8 sagging   

下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is continuously sagging. 敌军的士气不断低落。
• We are sagging south. 我们的船正离开航线向南漂流。

9 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

10 bulges   

膨胀( bulge的名词复数 )； 鼓起； （身体的）肥胖部位； 暂时的激增

参考例句：

• His pocket bulges with apples. 他的衣袋装着苹果鼓了起来。
• He bulges out of his black T-shirt. 他的肚子在黑色T恤衫下鼓鼓地挺着。

11 lustful   

a.贪婪的；渴望的

参考例句：

• Adelmo agreed and duly submitted to Berengar's lustful advances. 阿德尔摩同意了并适时地顺从了贝仁格情欲的增长。
• The lustful scenes of the movie were abhorrent to the old lady. 电影里淫荡的画面让这老妇人厌恶。

12 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

13 audacity   

n.大胆，卤莽，无礼

参考例句：

• He had the audacity to ask for an increase in salary.他竟然厚着脸皮要求增加薪水。
• He had the audacity to pick pockets in broad daylight.他竟敢在光天化日之下掏包。

14 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

15 preening   

v.（鸟）用嘴整理（羽毛）( preen的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Will you stop preening yourself in front of the mirror? 你别对着镜子打扮个没完行不行？
• She was fading, while he was still preening himself in his elegance and youth. 她已显老，而他却仍然打扮成翩翩佳公子。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

16 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

17 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

18 glossies   

用亮光纸印刷的杂志( glossy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

19 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

20 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

21 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

22 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

23 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

24 surmount   

vt.克服；置于…顶上

参考例句：

• We have many problems to surmount before we can start the project.我们得克服许多困难才能著手做这项工作。
• We are fully confident that we can surmount these difficulties.我们完全相信我们能够克服这些困难。

25 lithograph   

n.平板印刷，平板画；v.用平版印刷

参考例句：

• Lithograph was introduced from China to Europe.印刷术是从中国传入欧洲的。
• Cole printed 1,000 of the cards on a lithograph stone before having them hand-colored.科尔随即用石版印刷了1000张，之后又让人给这些卡手工着色。