Bentonville: Art Project Analysis

The piece that I will do my research project on is Paul Cadmus' “Self-Portrait” (1935) on display at Crystal Bridges’ 1940s to Now Gallery in Bentonville. It is tempura on board and is strikingly small at 16 x 12inches. It is a 20th century “modern” piece.

I choose this piece because it fit with an idea that I had for an art project. My art project will be a journey through the different lens that individuals interpret and judge one another; specifically my art project will reflect the way that homophobia is perpetuated in society. It will consist of three different pieces each created using a different medium. The goal for my project is to illuminate the ways in which we view each other. How, through different lens, other’s interpretation

This photo was taken by a stranger in the Crystal Bridges Museum ("excuse me, will you take a picture of me with this work of art please) with your average Smartphone. This first piece will represent our initial judgements of people - quick, informal but powerful. This piece will represent the first, and seemingly benign, step on the path to hatred. While it looks like an accurate representation of me, the photo, and the situation, it isn't and it can never be. One’s outside perception of a situation (represented by the picture) will never be as true as the actual experience

He was an artist who was gay in a time where homosexuality was incredibly repressed by everyday culture. This quote from Crystal Bridges really captures the essence of this piece: “Though he often depicted his gay contemporaries and was unafraid of including gay themes in his work, Cadmus rejected the notion that his work indexed his sexuality. He believed his artistic self remained separate from his personal identity.” He was not a “gay artist”, but an “artist who also happened to be gay”; he wanted his work to be looked at as being separate from any one aspect of his identity. These ideals are reflected in my own artwork, so being able to include his self-portrait in my project is both an allusion and homage to his work. Specifically, Cadmus uses shape and lines to create inward circulate movement that draw the view towards his face. In addition, he combines a close-up perspective with a relatively small size to create an intense amount of intimacy with the