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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

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Tom Sutcliffe

James Hall

Betsy Wieseman

John Burnside

Richard Tognetti

Fiona Woods

Start the Week: Self-Portrayal

Self-Portrayal

17/11/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Self-Portrayal

Tom Sutcliffe with James Hall, Betsy Wieseman, John Burnside and Richard Tognetti.

Tom Sutcliffe talks with Betsy Wieseman of the National Gallery, poet John Burnside, art historian James Hall and the musician and conductor Richard Tognetti about self-scrutiny.

Self-portraits rarely fail to compel, but to what extent are they a true form of self-examination? James Hall maps the history of self-portraiture, from the earliest myths of Narcissus to the prolific self-image-making of contemporary artists. Rembrandt's self-portraits are the highlight of a major exhibition of the artist's work at The National Gallery. Its curator Betsy Wieseman discusses what these paintings can tell us about the artist. Poetry and memoir are the tools of John Burnside's self-exploration. A previous TS Eliot prize winner, he discusses his latest collection 'All One Breath' for which he has been nominated again this year. The musician Richard Tognetti argues that 'the self' can still shine through in interpretations of great classical works.

Producer: Fiona Woods.

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