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Mirrors are often used by artists to record their self-portrait, sometimes with surprising results, as in Bernini’s ‘David’ and Caravaggio’s ‘Medusa’. Images of mirrors, and the reflections they show, feature in ‘The Moneylender and his Wife’ by Quentin Metsys and Lee Friedlander’s photographs ‘America by Car’. Actual mirrors have been used in the sculptures of Anish Kapoor and the installations of Yayoi Kusama. Investigate appropriate sources and develop a personal response to Mirror Images. 3. Mirror Images
When creating the Sculpture of ‘David’ Bernini knew that he was risking comparison with works in a sculptural tradition that included the great names of the artistic culture of the Italian Renaissance, from Donatello to Verrocchio and Michelangelo. Gian Lorenzo Bernini Instead of depicting the static figure after killing Goliath, Bernini once again countered with the dynamic charge of the spiral.
BERNINI’S DAVID USED MIRROR TO SCULPT HIMSELF
Caravaggio painted two versions of ‘Medusa’. Caravaggio drew on the Greek myth of Medusa, a woman with snakes for hair who turned people to stone by looking at them. Medusa was a Gorgon monster, a terrifying female creature from the Greek Mythology. Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio
The mirror is a fascinating detail, reminiscent of the virtuosity of van Eyck. Quentin Metsys • This painting is an allegorical and moral work, condemning avarice and exalting honesty, as is shown by emblems of the vanity of life and Christian symbols like the scales of the Last Judgment.
Lee Friedlander went looking for America by car – but unlike other photographers he chose to shoot it through his windscreen, producing a set of strange and powerful images of the varied US landscape. Lee Friedlander’s Photography • In this series Friedlander uses the windscreen or side window as frame within a frame, playing with the composition this simple technique allows.
Since 1995, he has worked with the highly reflective surface of polished stainless steel. These works are mirror-like, reflecting or distorting the viewer and the surroundings. Anish Kapoor • Sir Anish Kapoor, CBE RA is an Indian sculptor. Kapoor has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s when he moved to study art.
Approach the strange-looking mirrored hexagonal block, peek through the small window... and it's like looking into a psychedelic Tardis. Yayoi Kusama • The scene - a thousand tiny, diamond-like mirrors that seem to go on forever - is actually a dazzling artwork by the eccentric Japanese artist. • The bedazzling box gives the viewer the impression of a never-ending perspective as they gaze inside its small windows at the shapes and colours reflecting before them.
