{"id":1741,"date":"2015-02-12T07:42:04","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T07:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.canvasprintersonline.com.au\/blog\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2015-09-08T19:04:16","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T19:04:16","slug":"us-history-selfie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canvasprintersonline.com.au\/blog\/us-history-selfie\/","title":{"rendered":"From Me To Us: The History Of The Selfie"},"content":{"rendered":"

The self-portrait sure has come a long way. When he painted Self-Portrait with Two Circles<\/em> circa 1659, it\u2019s unlikely Dutch artist Rembrandt knew he was part of what would one day become a global phenomenon.<\/p>\n

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HOLD STILL: Rembrandt’s Self Portrait with Two Circles. Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>Surely he\u2019d be rolling in his grave at the realisation that the genre of self-portrait has turned from fine art created by a trained artist to pop culture any old hack can slap together. Or should we all revel in the fact that smart phones with inbuilt digital cameras are making it easy than ever to capture special (and not so special) moments?<\/p>\n

Clearly bored of capturing his boss the Pharaoh Akhenaten, the earliest self-portrait was made by the Egyptian Pharaoh\u2019s chief sculptor in 1365 BC. In more recent times \u2013 we\u2019re talking 1300s to the 1600s \u2013 Asia and Europe boast a rich history of self-portrait art.<\/p>\n

Today we like to poke fun at the concept of someone having an \u2018ego\u2019 as though it\u2019s a bad thing, so let me take you on that journey a little further and point out a fellow called Albrecht D\u00fcrer who was a prolific 15th<\/sup> Century self-portrait artist.<\/p>\n

In case you thought your teenager taking selfies was a modern phenomenon, it turns out D\u00fcrer explored his ego in the same way at age 13 when he did this silverpoint drawing below.<\/p>\n

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TEENAGE EGO: Self-portrait at 13 by Albrecht D\u00fcrer. Albrecht D\u00fcrer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>Mirrors brought the self-portrait to the masses (or whatever the collective noun for artists is \u2013 a \u2018black\u2019?) in the 16th<\/sup> Century with mirror technology improved by the French in the 17th<\/sup> Century.<\/p>\n

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SMILE: Robert Cornelius made the first photographic self-portrait. Robert Cornelius [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>And of course photography brought \u2018photo-portraits\u2019 to the fore with Robert Cornelius,\u00a0in 1839, claiming the mantle for the first person to make a photographic portrait. Photo portraits continued to be captured using mirrors, timers, photography assistants or \u2013 wait for it \u2013 using an outstretched hand.<\/p>\n

So, aside from mirrors and cameras, what is it exactly that happened prior to June 2014 that forced the Oxford English Dictionary to list selfie, n. for the first time?<\/p>\n

Digicams with mirrors of course! It\u2019s interesting. While I had a film camera growing up, I have absolutely no recollection of taking a selfie. Given film and film processing cost money, it was just too risky. For fiscal reasons (and quality reasons?) we put time and effort into ensuring our photos were as good as they possibly could be.<\/p>\n

When it came to photos of ourselves, there was very little question that we\u2019d simply ask a friend or family member to take one for us. Surely they would be trusted to capture the best photo of ourselves\u2026?<\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019ll be the judge of that thank you very much.<\/p>\n

Today, we take photo after photo of ourselves alone, ourselves in front of a nice background, ourselves with friends or ourselves with a big crowd\u00a0behind us.\u00a0While the history of the selfie has already seen us shift from the photo of \u2018me\u2019 to the photo of \u2018us\u2019, we still like to stroke our egos with the classic one-person selfie from time to time.<\/p>\n

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The digital camera has seen us shift from the purely egocentric self-portrait to the sociocentric selfie \u2013 that can only be a good thing right? Back to that trust issue \u2026<\/p>\n

No longer do we ask strangers frequenting our favoured tourist destination to take a photo. They can\u2019t be trusted – they might steal our camera! Or worse \u2013 make us look bad!<\/p>\n

And here we have it – the advent of the selfie-stick.<\/p>\n

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Not sure if\u00a0\u2018selfie-stick\u2019 will make it to the Oxford English Dictionary, but I think Rembrandt will roll right out of his grave and start haunting us for real\u00a0if\u00a0it does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The self-portrait sure has come a long way. When he painted Self-Portrait with Two Circles circa 1659, it\u2019s unlikely Dutch artist Rembrandt knew he was part of what would one day become a global phenomenon. Surely he\u2019d be rolling in his grave at the realisation that the genre of self-portrait has turned from fine art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n