URI
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, as Vertumnus, 55 x 22.83 in. (70 x 58 cm), c. 1590–91, Skokloster Castle, Sweden (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Invitation and Theme – Fall 2024 – The Portrait and Beyond

For our fall issue we invite you to consider how you approach the figure and the role it plays in your work. We hope you will think about the idea of portraiture (including self-portraiture) in an expansive manner, beyond a traditional—and literal—conception, considering the ways in which art can capture and convey an individual’s essence, personality, psychology, identity (or lack of!), values, power, status, iconic nature, contributions to society and to yourself, and what these mean to you..

MAJ theme Gorky copy

Arshile Gorky, The Artist and His Mother, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 ¼ in. (152.4 x 127.6 cm), 1926–c. 1936, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Julien Levy for Maro and Natasha Gorky in memory of their father. © The Arshile Gorky Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

MAJ Theme Bourgeois Maman copy

Louise Bourgeois, Maman, stainless steel, bronze, marble, 29 ft. 4 3/8 in. x 32 ft. 1 7/8 in. x 38 ft. 5/8 in. (8.95 x 9.80 x 11.60 m), 1999, displayed in front of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Deadline: 1 September 2024.

Guidelines for UMVA Members’ Showcase:

We invite MAJ member artists to participate in the Showcase (to become a member: click here).

  • For The Portrait and Beyond issue, submit up to four JPEG or png images (NO TIFF files), approximately 2800 pixels on longest side, resolution 72dpi.
  • Label each image file as follows: your last name_Number of Image_Title (with no spaces in the title). Please DO NOT put whole caption/credit in image file label, see image list/caption format below (if you are submitting for a group put your own last name in first).
  • Include a numbered image list and statement or brief essay (600 words or less) in Word doc. format, NOT a PDF.
  • Image list/caption format: create a list that is numbered to match the number in your image file label that includes the following in this order: Artist’s Name, Title of Work, medium, size (example: 9 x 12 in.), date (optional), photo credit (example: photo: Ansel Adams) if not included we assume it is courtesy of the artist. Example: Unknown Artist, Untitled, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in., 2000 (photo: Ansel Adams).
  • Label your document file names: Last Name_Title.
  • Please wait until all of your material is compiled to submit.

Put “Portrait” in the subject line and submit by email to umvalistings@gmail.com by the 1 September 2024 deadline. MAJ will limit the “Members’ Showcase” section to UMVA members who have not been published in the past year.

Do not send preformatted visual essays. Our editors will lay out text and images submitted using the guidelines above.

It is the MAJ’s policy to request and then publish image credits. We will not publish images the submitter does not have the right to publish. However, it is to be assumed that any uncredited or unlabeled images are the author’s/submitter’s own images. By submitting to the MAJ, you are acknowledging respect for these policies.

MAJ theme3 Man Ray

 Man Ray, Le Violon d’Ingres (Ingres’s Violin), gelatin silver print, 11.625 x 8.9375 in. (29.6 x 22.7 cm), 1924, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

MAJ ttheme Ramon Casas Studio Interior Google Art Project copy

Ramon Casas, Studio Interior, oil on canvas, 28.54 x 36.41 in. (72.5 x 92.5 cm), c. 1883, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Thank you for your interest and support.

MAJ editors: Natasha Mayers, Nora Tryon, Véronique Plesch and Betsy Sholl (poetry editor).