Cancer Self-Portraits Redux
Thursday July 5th 2012
Cancer is the first water sign – an immediate, unmediated emotional response to the world. Maybe that’s why so many artists have been born under the sign of the golden claws.
To read last year’s piece and get an eyeful of gorgeous portraits by artists with the Sun in Cancer, click here.
I’ve always loved Rembrandt’s self-portraits — increasingly merciless yet so utterly perfect. I’m struck by Wyeth’s example: it takes unbelievable subtlety to pull off that white-on-white work, but the final result is so starkly clear that subtlety all but vanishes, and each element takes its own complete space and texture. In other words, where the other colorists used a palette of colors with deftness and purpose, his control of that one color (or lack of it) makes the eyes water more than the most extravagant rainbows.
It seems to me that Cancers are rarely dull 🙂
One to add to the list is Stanley Spencer (30 June 1891 3AM time approx.) He returned to self-portraits throughout his life and they seem to me both moving and unflinchingly self-exposing. Two of them currently on display at Cookham – http://stanleyspencer.org.uk