Self-portrait

Maker

(Artists)
1882-1957

Title

Self-portrait

Date of Production

1911

Medium

graphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensions

Height: 31.3 cm
Width: 24.3 cm

Accession Number

D.2011.XX.3

Mode of Acquisition

The Samuel Courtauld Trust, purchase, 2011

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This is one of three self-portrait drawings Wyndham Lewis made in 1911–12, when he was 29 years old. The angular planes and strong linear structure show the early influence of Cubism on his work. Lewis portrays himself as a defiantly avant-garde artist, using dramatic contrasts of light and dark to convey a sense of menace. His piercing gaze suggests the combative public persona Lewis wished to project, that of an iconoclast determined to break with the old order.

Provenance

Acquired for the Samuel Courtauld Trust by Daniel Katz, July 2011

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Pen to Brush: British Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/11/2021-28/02/2022

Courtauld Connects Regional Programme - Radical Drawing, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, 18/10/2019-19/01/2020

Wyndham Lewis: Life, Art, War, IWM North, Manchester, 23/06/2017-01/01/2018 ...More

Picasso and Britain, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art & Edinburgh & Scotland, 06/08/2012-04/11/2012

Picasso and Britain, Tate Britain, London, 15/02/2012-15/07/2012

Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957), Fundacion Juan March & Madrid & Spain, 05/02/2010-16/05/2010

Wyndham Lewis Portraits, National Portrait Gallery & London & England, 03/07/2008-19/10/2008

Display of Wyndham Lewis drawings, Rugby School, Warwickshire,, 26/11/2007-09/12/2007

The bone beneath the pulp - Drawings by Wyndham Lewis, Abbot Hall Art Gallery & Kendal & Cumbria, 07/03/2005-04/06/2005

The bone beneath the pulp - Drawings by Wyndham Lewis, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/10/2004-13/02/2005 ...Less

Literature

The Bone Beneath the Pulp: Drawings by Wyndham Lewis, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, 14 October 2004 - 13 February 2005 Courtauld Institute of Art, London 2004
38
ill. on p. 39

Inscriptions

Inscription: inscription : signed : lower left centre & recto : : W. Lewis.

Inscription: inscription : signed : verso : : Self-portrait (about 1912) / W.L.

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