Self Portrait in Painting According to Erving Goffman’s Theory of Presentation of Self

Abstract

The processes through which art expresses itself in the aesthetic field are evaluated in the context of reflection of social and historical paradigms. It can be said that this parallelism -the simultaneous relationship established between art and sociology or history- is formed spontaneously. The signs that art prefers when expressing itself as an original field of creation are considered as analytical arguments for history and sociology. At the core of this relationship is the moment when art comes into contact with society and the representations created by the forms of contact. Thus, the framework of the subject-society relationship also appears spontaneously. When the artist leads to production with self-consciousness, they symbolize the models of the period in which the individual lives or the relationship between the subject and society. The artist’s ways of expressing themselves; at the same time, their efforts to reveal their self can be considered as ways of establishing a relationship with the society to which they belong. These ways create an interdisciplinary field of thinking in which the social and individual phenomenon of the self is expressed by imaginative and symbolic signs and reveals different dimensions of the meanings expressed by the phenomenon of the self. Thus the self is a multidimensional reality in which the individual and the social are intertwined. Although it is mostly defined as centered on “person and selfhood”, sociality has an intense effect on the formation and development of the self. Erving Goffman also focuses on the strong ties of the self with society in the Theory of Self-Presentation. He explains this tie with a theatrical metaphor in which the individual is the actor and the society is the audience. According to him, the aim of the actor is to play their role in the best way, and the aim of the audience is to see that their own expectations for the role are met. This means that the individual has the motivation to consciously or unconsciously demonstrate that they have a self that is compatible with society. According to Goffman, an individual demonstrates their self in the social arena with four performances in accordance with the motivation they have. These are dramatic realization, idealization, mystification, reality and contrivance. At this point, it is also possible to think of a self-portrait made for different purposes throughout the history of art as a presentation tool that allows the artist to reveal their awareness of themselves, that is, their self. Starting from the sociality in the formation of the self -in contexts such as the way it expresses itself in the social field, the period in which it lives and how it is affected by the space- it offers the opportunity to explore the boundaries of the painter’s self transition with the social setting through self-portrait. In this context, the self-portrait, which is seen as the expression area of the self and is generally associated with selfhood is discussed through Goffman’s Theory of Self-Presentation in the article. With an increase in the importance to the person, many examples self-portrait demonstrates itself intensively in the period which is between the 16th and 18th centuries, have been interpreted by the four performances he determined. The interpretation in question is important because it offers the opportunity to look at artistic production through a social window, which is usually treated as a person-centered explanation model or a reflection of the type of individual self. Therefore, it is thought that considering the self-portrait through Goffman’s theory of self offers a new field related to the social dimension of art.

Keywords

• Erving Goffman
• self
• society
• art
• self-portrait

Erving Goffman’ın Benlik Sunumu Kuramı’na Göre Resimde Otoportre

Abstract

Benlik, bireysel ile toplumsalın iç içe geçtiği çok boyutlu bir gerçekliktir. Çoğunlukla ‘kişi ve kendilik’ merkezli tanımlansa da benliğin oluşum ve gelişim sürecinde toplumsallığın yoğun bir etkisi vardır. Erving Goffman da ‘Benlik Sunumu Kuramı’nda benliğin toplum ile olan sıkı bağına odaklanmaktadır. Bu bağı ise bireyin oyuncu, toplumun seyirci olduğu bir tiyatro metaforuyla açıklamaktadır. Ki, Goffman’a göre birey benliğini toplumsal alanda dramatik canlandırma, idealize etme, gizemlileştirme, gerçeklik ve kurmaca olmak üzere dört performansla sergilemektedir. Bu noktada sanat tarihi boyunca pek çok farklı amaçla yapılmış otoportreyi; sanatçının kendine dair farkındalığını, yani benliğini ortaya koymasını sağlayan bir sunum aracı olarak da düşünmek mümkündür. Benliğin oluşumundaki toplumsallıktan yola çıkmak ise ressamın benliğinin toplumsal alan ile geçişken sınırlarını otoportre aracılığıyla keşfetme imkânını sunmaktadır. Bu çerçevede makalede, ‘kendilik’in ifade alanı olarak görülen ve yoğun olarak kişisellikle ilişkilendirilen otoportre, Goffman’ın Benlik Sunumu Kuramı bağlamında ele alınacaktır. Otoportrenin kendini somut olarak ortaya koyduğu 16-18. yüzyıllar arasındaki pek çok örnek onun belirlediği dört performans üzerinden yorumlanacaktır. Otoportreye Goffman’ın kuramı ile bakışın sanatın toplumsal boyutu üzerine yeni bir pencere açacağı düşünülmektedir.

Keywords

• Erving Goffman
• benlik
• toplum
• sanat
• otoportre

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