Art & Design Resource Pack - Madame Tussauds

What is a Self-portrait?
The wax models that you see in Madame Tussauds are known as ‘wax
figures or portraits’ because they are an exact likeness of a famous
person. The face, hair, height and body-shape are all copied exactly.
A self-portrait is when an artist
attempts to create an artistic
likeness of himself. Many famous
artists have created self-portraits.
A portrait can tell you many
things about a person. It can show
you what fashions were like at
the time, how people lived and it
can also tell you about important
events that happened at the time.
Activity One
Select one of the above artists
and investigate their self-portrait
work. What name did they give to
their self-portraits?
Activity Two
a) Describe your classmate’s face. On a separate piece of
paper record the following details:
1. What colour eyes do they have? 2. What shape are their eyes?
3. What is their hair like? 4. How would you describe its style?
5. What are their teeth like? 6. What is their skin tone?
7. What is the shape of their mouth like? 8. What is their expression?
What else do you notice?
b) Practice pulling a happy and sad face. How does your face change with
your expressions? What happens to each of your features as you change
from a sad to a happy face:
Happy face Sad face
Eyes
Mouth
Nose
Self-potrtraits created by:
L.S. Lowry, Picasso, Van Gough
and Salvador Dali
Worksheet Five The images shown depict wax figures created and owned by Madame Tussauds