Duane Michals

Duane Michals, “Narcissus”, 1986, Photo Shoot, Model Unknown

Duane Michals was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, on February 18th, 1932. After taking art classes at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, he attended the University of Denver, receiving his undergraduate degree in 1953. In 1956 after his military service, Michals moved to New York where he studied at Parsons School of Design, later working as a graphic designer for magazines “Dance” and “Time”.

A 1958 Russian tour of portraiture photography started Michals’ artistic career. His photographs in the mid-1960s consisted of mainly deserted sites in New York. In 1966, Michals started to structure his photographs as multiframe compositions, with subjects enacting set narratives. The writing of captions in the margins of his photographs began in 1974 and, later in 1979 the incorporation of paint into his treatment of the printed images.

Duane Michals’s narrative pieces rely on the sequencing of multiple images to convey a sense of alienation and disequilibrium. In his world, the literal appearance of things is less important than the communication of a concept or story. In his portraiture, however, Michals relies wholly on his subjects’ appearance and self-chosen poses to establish their identity. He believes in a direct approach for his portraiture instead of his usual metaphoric approach.

Benczúr Gyula

Benczúr Gyula, “Narcissus”, 1881, Oil on Canvas, Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest.

John Wood

John Wood, “Narcissus”, Date Unknown, Oil on Canvas

An early version of the “Narcissus” story by Conon, a contemporary of Ovid, tells the tale of Narcissus and Amines . In it, a young man named Aminias fell in love with Narcissus, who had already spurned his male suitors. Narcissus also spurned him and gave him a sword.

Before Aminias committed suicide at Narcissus’s doorstep, he had prayed to the gods to give Narcissus a lesson for all the pain he provoked. Narcissus walked by a pool of water and saw his reflection, became entranced by it, and killed himself because he could not have his object of desire.

Franz Von Stuck

Franz Von Stuck, “Narcissus”, 1926, Oil on Canvas, 64.3 x 59.8 cm, Private Collection

Franz Von Stuck was am influential German Symbolist and Art Nouveau painter, sculptor, engraver, and architect born at Tettenweis near Griesbach in Lower Bavaria, Germany. He was noted for his treatment of erotic and comic aspects of mythological themes.

As a child Von Stuck quickly became a gifted caricaturist. From 1878 to 1881 he attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, where he received particular encouragement from German Sculptor and painter Ferdinand Barth.

Von Stuck attended the Munich School for the Applied Arts after secondary school, transferring in 1881 to the “Königliche Akademie der bildenden Künste” (Royal Academy for the Fine Arts). The drawings he did for the portfolio ‘Allegorien und Embleme’ (‘Allegories and Emblems’), published by Gerlach and Schenk in Vienna, made his reputation as an outstanding draughtsman as early as 1882.

The many other prizes and honours awarded to Franz Von Stuck included the Ritterkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bayerischen Krone (Cross of Knighthood in the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown), a distinction coupled with elevation to knighthood. In the last phase of his work, Von Stuck concentrated primarily on sculpture.

The recipient of so many distinctions and an honorary member of numerous European academies, Franz Von Stuck died in Munich of 1928. He was buried at the Waldfriedhof in Munich and his wife Mary rests beside him. His villa at the Prinzregentenstrasse in Munich is now a art museum.