Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture - Hardcover

by Wendy Wick Reaves (Editor)

Is there more to portraiture than eyes meeting eyes? Beyond the Face: New Perspectives on Portraiture presents sixteen essays by leading scholars who explore the subtle means by which artists--and subjects--convey a sense of identity and reveal historical context. Examining a wide range of topics, from early caricature and political vandalism of portraits to contemporary selfies and performance art, these studies challenge our traditional assumptions about portraiture. By probing the diversity and complexity of portrayal, Beyond the Face fills a gap in current scholarship and offers a resource for teaching art history, subjectivity, and the construction of identity.

Author Biography

Wendy Wick Reaves is senior curator of prints and drawings, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. She started the graphic arts department at the Portrait Gallery in 1974. The collections she has developed include fine art prints, drawings, rare books, cartoons, caricatures, and posters. Reaves has curated numerous exhibitions and served as the Portrait Gallery's interim director from June 2012 through March 2013. Reaves has published books on the prints of George Washington, nineteenth-century portrait prints, twentieth-century portrait drawings, celebrity caricature, and the editorial cartoons of Pat Oliphant, as well as many articles. Her book Eye Contact: Modern American Portrait Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery (2002) was nominated for a Charles Rufus Morey Award and a George Wittenborn Memorial Award for distinguished scholarship in art history. Reaves earned a master's degree from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture and is a member and former board member of the Print Council of America.