Self-Portrait Based on Albrecht Dürer's Melancholia I

Introduction to Dürer and Melancholia I

2009-06-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

We begin with a short introduction to Dürer and his work.

View the two short videos below to become more familiar with the artist, Albrecht Dürer.

Sometimes to understand art, one must understand the creative genius of the artist.

Read the two articles ART & ARTISTS: the Renaissance and the Rise of the Artist and ART & ARTISTS: Renaissance art and "grazia" to better understand what being an artist meant during the Renaissance times.

Watch the short video of this filmmaker's take on how Dürer might have approached his paintings and his work.

Look at Dürer's drawing more closely. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Name at least 10 objects you see in this picture and think about what they might mean. Perhaps before you ponder what some of these objects mean, you might wonder what some of them are!

Dürer did this engraving in 1514 (which is hinted to us in one of the objects.) That was almost 500 years ago. Most of the objects are familiar to us because we still use them to this day. But some of the objects are simply baffling as to what they could be or could have been used for.

Why do you think Dürer might have used these objects as symbols? Would these objects have the same meaning if they stood alone as they do grouped together in this composition?

DIALOG IDEAS for the blog post:

The quote underneath the image of Melancholia I at the top of the blog is from Jansen's History of Art. What does it tell you about the artwork? What does it tell you about the artist?
Why are proportion and perspective so important in realistic drawings and paintings?
How does the composition or the placement of the objects in this print make it so powerful?
Why do you think it was so important to understand an artist as a creative genius rather than as a craftsman during the Renaissance?
What object captivates your attention the most? What do you suppose it symbolizes?

ASSIGNMENT for the blog:

Post your ideas for dialog to the blog. Think of dialog as a stream of meaning flowing among and through the group, out of which may emerge a new understanding, something creative. (see Dialog vs. Discussion under RUBRICS in the sidebar)
Comment on the postings of at least three of your cohorts. Take your time to really listen to what the others are saying and reflect on it. The emphasis is on learning and new insight. See what shared meaning you can uncover as you integrate multiple perspectives.
Use sophisticated, appropriate language and vocabulary in your discussion and comments according to the Blog Posts rubric.
Do a small, individual sketch of each of the 10 items you picked out of this composition. You will present them in class at the beginning of the school year.
Take digital photos of your two best sketches and upload them to the Melancholia Museum.

Submit your posts and photos by the due date. Read and comment on the postings of at least three other classmates. DUE DATE for this assignment: Friday, June 12.

Study 1: Interpreting the Image

2009-06-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

Let's begin this study by attempting to interpret the image. This calls for a close study of the composition -- getting to know it.

Melancholia I (1514) by German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is a large print full of complex symbolism. One of the four bodily humors in medieval thought, melancholy was associated with insanity as well as artistic prowess. In Dürer's work on paper, instruments of geometry, an exacting branch of mathematics in which the artist excelled, surround a downtrodden winged personification of the humor, perhaps a visual reference by the master to his own inability to realize perfection in design.

Read:
1 Interpretation of this Drawing
2 Albrecht Durer Melencolia 1 - an enigma
3 Melencolia I

In 1514, Albrecht Dürer created an engraving named Melancholia that included a magic square. In the bottom row of his 4 X 4 magic square you can see that he placed the numbers "15" and "14" side by side to reveal the date of his engraving.

A magic square is said to be symmetrical if each of those pair of numbers which are symmetrical in the centre point of the square add to half the sum of the numbers in each row, column, and principal diagonal – here 17. The magic square shown in Melancholia is symmetrical. Only four of all the known magic squares are symmetrical -- Dürer's is one of them.

There are two things to note about Dürer's magic square. The middle two numbers in the bottom row are the date that this work was done 15 14. The outer two, 4 and 1 can be thought of as the fourth and first letter of the Latin alphabet, representing the letters D A, Dürer's monogram. The most important source that Dürer drew upon in composing Melencolia was Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim’s De Occulta Philosophia (1509-1510). He was also most likely Dürer's source for the magic square. The magic square in ‘Melencolia I’ has the additional property that any pair of entries symmetrical to the center add to 17. It is just one of four magic squares with this property and with the numerals 15 and 14 centered on the bottom of the square.

View the videos about Dürer's Magic Square

If you draw lines on Durer's Magic Square, beginning with 1, then 2, then 3 and so on, continuing to 16, you end up with a symmetrical pattern.

Dürer's Influence on Picasso

Let's also take a quick look at an interpretive image by Picasso. Picasso was a great admirer of Dürer and owned at least one original print by the artist. He also owned a an expensive German edition of reproductions of Dürer's work. In the late 20th century, an ink drawing surfaced that is believed to be an unknown Picasso masterpiece that was hugely influenced by Dürer.

Click on the links below to learn more about this work by Pablo Picasso:

Read about Picasso's Unknown Masterpiece.
For further fascinating and in-depth information, you may also want to check out Picasso's 1934 Drawing.
Learn more about the controversy of this drawing and how the unknown masterpiece proves to be a missing link to Picasso's work. (optional)

View The Mystery of Picasso

DIALOG IDEAS for the blog post:

What thoughts or insights do you have after reading more about the meanings of the objects? Is there anything you would interpret differently that has not been discussed by any of the authors?
What do you think Picasso learned from Dürer? How did Picasso give meaning to his symbols?

ASSIGNMENT for the blog:

Think about what symbolizes you. Look for clues around your room -- sports equipment, musical instruments, books, music, electronics, colors, etc. -- and make a list of the things that are a part of you or what you stand for. How could you associate these items with yourself and develop them into meaningful symbols?
Pick a couple of the things that could be your most important objects and begin developing your ideas into drawings of symbols that communicate some meaning about you. Your drawings can be of any medium you choose. They can be simple like Picasso's or detailed like Dürer's. Find a style that is yours. Make each drawing no smaller than 9 X 12.
Take digital photos of your two best drawings and upload them to the Melancholia Museum. [refer to "Uploading Pictures" in the sidebar!]

For further help: See Blog Posts Rubric in the sidebar
See Dialog vs. Discussion under RUBRICS in the sidebar

Submit your posts and photos by the due date. Don't wait until August. Read and comment on the postings of at least three other classmates. DUE DATE for this assignment: Friday, June 19.

Study 2: Developing Ideas for Your Own Composition

2009-06-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

It is now time for you to begin to develop ideas for your own composition.

Begin by brainstorming ideas for objects you will use in your composition. Drawing a mind map is a very useful tool for doing this.

Mind Mapping is a visual information management tool that enables you to structure, organize, memorize, arrange, brainstorm and learn information in a highly specialized way. A mind map will give you amazing insights into your mind and your limitless capacity to think, comprehend and store large reservoirs of information. Studies have proven that your capacity to think effectively and quickly is very closely tied to your imagination and your ability to create associations between information chunks.

Mind Mapping is a method of storing, organizing, prioritizing, learning, reviewing and memorizing information. It effectively presents an overview and summary of a body of knowledge that fuses words and pictures; helping simulate logic and creativity for proficient and effective thinking practices involving the 5 senses.

View the Video on Mind Mapping

See the Mind Mapping Rubric for the rules of drawing a mind map.

Do a mind map to come up with ideas for the objects in your drawing.

Find out what some of your chosen objects may symbolize. Check out these resources:

Visual Glossary of Symbolism in the art of Joseph Cusimano

Symbolism

Do studies of individual objects you are considering for inclusion in your finished composition.

The media you choose to use for these studies will vary with your interest and experience. Possibilities include charcoal, pencil, paint, collage, and monotype. Using different materials gives you ideas about what to use for the final piece, as well as expanding your comfort level with various materials and processes.

These object studies result in many drawings that may be suitable for your AP 'quality' portfolio.

You should be focusing on use of space, overall composition, and quality of the image.

Here is an example of one of the objects I will be using in my self-portrait piece:

This is a drawing I did of an old onion that has started to sprout -- one of the objects that will be in my self portrait. I have chosen an onion because of all the layers you can peel away-- symbolizing how we sometimes bury ourselves behind different facades. It also symbolizes for me how we can peel away an outer layer and reveal a fresh new layer -- a fresh start. And how new growth can sprout from a seemingly dead vegetable -- death and rebirth. Somehow I am going to tie these symbolic ideas into a meaningful expression of myself.

Another object I intend to use is the seashell because I love shells. I am the third generation of shell collectors in my family. The shells that my grandmother and great aunt collected on their travels around the world are a part of my collection. I am still researching the different symbology of seashells and how I can apply it to my self-portrait.

Other objects I am thinking about using are flowers, a timepiece, a cover of a rock and roll album and various other objects to represent meaning in my self portrait final piece.

Keep posting your drawings to the Melancholia Museum. Try to do at least two object drawings a week. There is an example of the onion drawing I did and the comment on why I chose the onion as one of my objects in the Melancholia museum. Other objects I am using are shells, flowers, a timepiece, a cover of a rock and roll album and various things to represent the meaning of my self portrait final piece.

View the video below for ideas in developing a concept.

DIALOG IDEAS for the blog post:

What objects will you use in your drawing?
Why? What do they symbolize?
How do these objects relate to you?

For further help: See Blog Posts Rubric in the sidebar
See Dialog vs. Discussion under RUBRICS in the sidebar

ASSIGNMENT:

Using the list you drew up for the last assignment of things that symbolize you, create a mind map in your sketchbook. You can use colored pencils, sharpies, cut-out words and pictures from magazines -- be creative.

Do studies of individual objects you are considering for inclusion in your finished composition. The media you choose to use for these studies will vary with your interest and experience. Possibilities include charcoal, pencil, paint, collage, and monotype. Using different materials gives you ideas about what to use for the final piece, as well as expanding your comfort level with various materials and processes. These object studies result in many drawings that may be suitable for your AP 'quality' portfolio. You should be focusing on use of space, overall composition, and quality of the image.

Keep developing your ideas into drawings that symbolize you.

Take digital photos of your best drawings and upload them to the Melancholia Museum. [refer to "Uploading Pictures" in the sidebar!]

Submit your posts and photos by the due date. Don't wait until August. Read and comment on the postings of at least three other classmates

This study assignment is due Friday, July 3.

Study 3

2009-06-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

Study 6 (or more): Now the students must start on the main figure in Melancholia I. For this study or studies, they must obtain photographs of themselves in the pose of the Melancholia I figure. The clothing they wear may be different from that the clothing in the print, but the pose must be recognizable. Because of the position and gesture of Dürer's figure, the emphasis is less on a facial resemblance and more on the figure's overall structure. Students also make life drawings of one another in the Melancholia I pose to use for reference, so the photographic sources become primarily useful for details of costume.

Study 5: Post Mortum: Beyond Durer

2009-05-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

As the students complete object and figure studies, they usually realize that additional studies are needed in order to examine the complex relationships of scale in Melancholia I and the ways the individual elements work in the constructed three-dimensional space of Dürer's image. The beauty of this part of the project is that each student's set of problems is unique, involving such challenges as scale, perspective, light and shadow, and color. This is the time when students learn the most and develop a respect for Dürer as a fellow artist. These more complex studies of parts of the composition are often of very high quality and are critiqued as images in their own right.Final image: Generally, the size limitation on this image is 18" x 24", so that the piece is a candidate for the Quality section of the portfolio. (In fact, this is always a consideration -- one or more of the preliminary studies may also be suitable for that section). The medium is entirely up to the student -- color or black and white. By this time, each student has substantially improved in technical skill as well as imaginative power. Each student has an enormous personal investment in the project, while sharing a feeling of camaraderie with other students and with Dürer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWY7kiHMKLk