Suzanne Caporael - Vasari’s Artists: Uccello (1397–1475)
Suzanne Caporael is an artist most known for her exceptional prints, often abstract, that cover a variety of subjects. However, her series titled Vasari’s Artists is different from many of her other prints. At first glance, each print in the series appears to be a portrait of an individual. However, these prints do not portray a likeness to the subjects they are named for, raising confusion among viewers. For example, in Caporael’s Vasari’s Artists: Uccello (1397-1475), the figure is depicted in a traditional portrait style, shown from the shoulders up. The figure has an elongated face, chiseled chin, and dark hair. One eyebrow appears to be raised and the eyes focus directly at the viewer, seemingly in anger or despair. This work, rather than representing a likeness of Uccello, the artist for whom the work is named, instead represents something else. Uccello represents Suzanne Caporael’s process and gives insight into the mindset of a talented contemporary printmaker, one who would be so inclined to create a portrait without likeness. Suzanne Caporael’s Vasari’s Artists: Uccello (1397-1475) represents a world of portraiture that pushes past resemblance to an individual and introduces a new way of seeing figures, one that focuses on the artist’s perception of the subject’s persona.
Uccello is one in a series of eleven prints, all in a similar grayish-blue color scheme. The series includes portrayals of other artists written about in Vasari’s The Lives of Artists, including Piero della Francesca, Giotto, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Fra Fillipo Lippi, Masaccio, Pietro Perugino, Cimabue, Andrea del Castagno, Messina, and Botticelli. All of these artists were influential artists during the Renaissance. One of the most important subjects of the series, however, is the man for whom it is named, Giorgio Vasari. A visual artist himself, Vasari is best known for The Lives of Artists, his book of artist biographies.1 Born in Arezzo, Italy, Vasari lived and worked in Florence for most of his life. He was a well-respected architect and painter and was also a close friend of the Medicis, the most powerful family in Florence at the time. Vasari believed that history was “truly the mirror of human life” and felt it was his duty to write down an account of the lives of these great artists. Although the work is not entirely accurate, in 1550 Vasari completed his first edition of The Lives of Artists.2 The Lives of Artists leads many to consider Vasari the first art historian.
Vasari’s account of Uccello was centered on the idea that the latter did not live up to his full potential and was primarily concerned with an evaluation of his life and work.3 Vasari states, “Paolo Uccello would have been the most delightful and inventive genius in the history of painting from Giotto’s day to the present, if he had spent as much time working on human figures and animals as he lost on problems of perspective”.4 Like the other artists he wrote about, Vasari found Uccello brilliant, but flawed. He acknowledges Uccello’s “meticulous and subtle mind”,5 but seemed to be disappointed in his focus on perspective, a defining trait of Uccello’s work. Paolo Uccello was known for his work on perspective, displayed in well-known works like The Battle of San Romano.6 Vasari seemed to think that Uccello was wasting his time and talent. This was not an unusual theme throughout The Lives of Artists as Vasari had similar opinions about many of the artists he discussed. Throughout The Lives of Artists, it is clear that Vasari thought highly of the artists he writes about, as did the rest of society during his time, but held these artists to a higher standard of excellence. Vasari was aware of the pressure that contemporary Florentine artists were under, stating, “For Florence treats her artisans what time does to its own creations: which, when perfected, it destroys and consumes them little by little”.7 The pressure to be a successful artist was something in The Lives of Artists to which Suzanne Caporael could relate.
When she came across The Lives of Artists, Caporael was inspired to create a work based on the book. She was deeply affected by Vasari’s attitude towards artists, noting they were “treated like kings,” a notion that made her think critically about the role of the artist in today’s society and her own personal experience of being an artist.8 While many of the artists discussed in The Lives of Artists are household names even today, Caporael understood that the glory must have come with an immense pressure to be successful. Artists today share the same pressure. While well-known contemporary artists like Chuck Close, Kara Walker, and Jeff Koons have gained prestige for their work, they still must face pressure from critics, fans, and even their own mind. Caporael acknowledged that she has always been somewhat embarrassed to be an artist, although it is what she loves.9 Like the artists in The Lives of Artists, she feels a pressure to be a master of her craft and to make something great in order to make the profession feel worth a lifetime’s work. Vasari’s words inspired Caporael to create a series that portrayed these renaissance artists in contemporary terms.10
When speaking to Caporael about her process for this series, however, it became clear that there was another, more powerful meaning. While this work could easily have been written off as a work of abstraction, there is much more beneath the surface that is exposed of the artist herself. Caporael is articulate about her artistic process and her intentions. She was able to give a thorough description of how this series came to be. Her process of creating Uccello and its companions is one that invites creativity and imagination.
When speaking to Caporael about her work, she asked, “Did you ever close your eyes when you were a child, just to see what the world looked like with your eyes closed?” Recalling this childhood pastime inspired her process for the series and is the reasoning behind its abstraction. As she described, closing one’s eyes often turns what is in the mind into an abstract form, similar to the forms seen in Uccello.11 In order to create the Vasari’s Artists series, Caporael reread the biographies that inspired her original exploration of the subject. After reading the biographies, she closed her eyes to see what she saw. The portrayals of these artists, conjured up in her mind, had less to do with a likeness of the subject (she did not look at pictures of the artists) and more to do with the feelings she got from The Lives of Artists. Upon examination of the series, one main theme seems to be disappointment. Disappointment is a common theme in Vasari’s book. For Uccello, he cannot seem to get past his disappointment that the artist never lived up to his potential. For other artists, there are other reasons. Uccello and its counterparts, all depicted in the blacks, whites, and grays of the photochemical means used, have a somber quality to them. This disappointment and sorrow must have been a significant emotion Caporael felt after reading the biographies, having related to Vasari’s harsh criticism, and must have translated into her perception of these artists.
In exploring the themes of pressure and disappointment, Caporael stumbled upon an exploration of perception. The process she used to conjure up the images of Vasari’s artists in her mind prompted further exploration of what it means to trust one’s eyes and to understand what it means to see.12 While Caporael is known for working in a variety of different media and with a variety of subjects, she is constantly seeking to learn about the world around her. Curiosity drives her work. She does not limit her focus or the sources upon which she draws, leading to the large variety in the works that she has completed throughout her career. The subjects she explores, such as the branches of science, the relationships between signs and memory, and between landscapes and the spaces they occupy, are all often represented through abstraction.13 While Vasari’s Artists may seem out of place among her more colorful, nature inspired works, the series inspired further examination of the mind’s role in perception, and greatly influenced other works. In her Seeing Things exhibition, Caporael explores what she describes as the “illogic of perception” and what is located in the space behind the eyes. Seeing is not a singular process; looking is always a different process. Caporael’s experimentations with perception and abstraction exemplify this idea throughout the exhibition and in the work following Vasari’s Artists.14
Uccello and the entire Vasari’s Artists series give insight into the mind of Caporael. Uccello challenges what it means to see something with our eyes, to expect a likeness of an individual that matches the title of a portrait. The series also challenges how the world views and understands artists by depicting these artists with such strong, sad emotions. While the ordinary person may not be able to understand what the renowned artists she depicts were feeling, Caporael could. Uccello was known to be hesitant to show his work for fear of being ridiculed, a sentiment Caporael admitted to facing herself.15 In this way, Vasari’s artists are an appropriate subject for a representation of Caporael’s inner thoughts and insecurities. Caporael’s Uccello reveals more about the artist than the subject for whom the print is named. Can we truly call Uccello a portrait of Uccello or is it really a self-portrait of Suzanne Caporael?
One thing is certain, while there is no conclusive evidence that portraiture was the intent of Uccello, an exploration of perception always was. In the years that followed the creation of these prints, Suzanne Caporael produced many additional prints surrounding the idea of what it means to see. Caporael’s exploration of this subject forces viewers to reexamine what they think they see and what they think they know about their own minds. The abstract faces in the Vasari’s Artists series challenge the way that portraits are viewed, reminding viewers that seeing is not only done through the eyes, but through a collaboration with the mind and the senses. The end result expands the idea of what it means to “look like” something or someone.
Sydney Krassen
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1Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of Artists, Translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), vii-viii.
2Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of Artists, Translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), viii-ix.
3Christopher Lloyd, "Uccello, Paolo," Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, accessed December 12, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T086821.
4Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of Artists, Translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 74.
5Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of Artists, Translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 74.
6“UCCELLO, Paolo,” Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Oxford Art Online, accessed December 12, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/benezit/B00186676.
7Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of Artists, Translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 258.
8Sydney Krassen in discussion with the artist, October 2015.
9Sydney Krassen in discussion with the artist, October 2015.
10Sydney Krassen in discussion with the artist, October 2015.
11Sydney Krassen in discussion with the artist, October 2015.
12Sydney Krassen in discussion with the artist, October 2015.
13Suzanne Caporael, Seeing Things, (New York: Ameringer, McEnergy, Yohe, 2011), 3.
14Suzanne Caporael, Seeing Things, (New York: Ameringer, McEnergy, Yohe, 2011), 3-4.
15“UCCELLO, Paolo,” Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Oxford Art Online, accessed December 12, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/benezit/B00186676.