Portraits of Ezra Pound: a diachronic approach to visual and poetic manifestoes

Abstract

The aim of this article is to compare portraits of Ezra Pound in the visual arts (painting, photography, sculpture, drawing) with his own appropriation of some their aesthetic features. Indeed Pound’s poetics often developed in parallel with fellow artists’ work. One will also analyze the difference between individual and collective portraits of Ezra Pound, and the way they interact with Pound’s poetic masks. How do they influence each other? What influence does the artistic medium have on the portrait itself? Eventually, Pound’s portraits often contain elements that are constructed by the poet himself, posing as both canonical and revolutionary.