Throughout history man has created artistic representations of himself, to capture our identity, present them as to be understood and to further understand ourselves. Still continuing today is the materialisation and representation of our identity. It is justifiably true that images in a self-portrait generally communicate to the viewer information about the identity, character and interests of the artist. By the comparison of a self-portrait by Joy Hester and another by Andy Warhol this statement will be proven true.


Events, experiences and teachings have actively shaped both Warhol and Hester. Warhol's approach to this image was screen printing, a commercial technique learnt while attending the Carnigie Institute of Technology. When he graduated, he supported himself financially by taking on advertising and design commissions from fashion magazines and a host of other commercial enterprises; later to become incredibly successful


Hester on the other hand didn't receive any critical acclaim. Her emotions ruled over the images she was creating. Hester produced hundreds of drawing and ink works in quick succession. Her work was rapid, as if done in synchronisation with the emotions she was feeling at the time. As a result her image is distorted to accurately record herself and her character.


The works by Hester and Warhol both contain elements that comprise an artistic representation of oneself. Elements that are shown in each work include facial expressions used to express there emotions, close ups from the shoulders up to exaggerate importance of facial expression and the lack of backgrounds in both works to emphasise subject matter.


No two self-portraits, by two different artists, will be the same. Most self-portraits contain individual aspects significant to there own identity and interests. The difference in Warhol's work is the use of colour compared to Hester's monotone grays, blacks and whites. Warhol has used analogous colours not negative and...