Giorgio De Chirico--European portraits no number 1961

Robert Frank’s photographic contact sheet captures Giorgio de Chirico, the painter of unsettling metaphysical landscapes. Here, we see De Chirico not in the guise of his painted figures but as a man presented in the visual language of modernity: the photographic strip. Note De Chirico’s hand gestures. In one strip, he is placing his hand to his chest. It is an echo across centuries, a recurring motif found in portraits of emperors, saints, and statesmen. The gesture first appears in Roman imperial portraiture as a sign of authority and virtue. Later, Christian iconography adopts it, signifying piety and divine grace. Think of Renaissance portraits, where the hand-to-chest becomes a marker of sincerity and heartfelt emotion. In De Chirico’s case, it adds a layer of complexity. Is it a genuine expression, or is he self-consciously positioning himself within the historical lineage of portraiture? The gesture reverberates through time, charged with the weight of cultural memory, its meaning shifting yet still resonant. It embodies the artist's presence within a continuum of self-representation.