Artwork
Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait)
Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait) is an ink print by Lovis Corinth. It dates from 1915 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1915, this drypoint self‑portrait presents the artist in profile, his bald head and short beard rendered in stark black lines on wove paper. The image is signed in an uneven hand at the lower left, and the overall effect is one of immediacy, as if the drawing were a rapid visual note rather than a polished study.
Subject & Meaning
The work portrays the artist himself, hands folded across his chest and a loosely draped jacket suggesting a relaxed, introspective stance. The profile view isolates the figure, focusing attention on the facial features and the gesture of the folded arms, which may hint at a contemplative self‑examination during a period of personal transformation.
Technique & Style
Executed as a drypoint, the artist incised lines directly into the paper’s surface, producing a range of line weights that shift from fine to bold. The grainy texture of the wove paper enhances the graphic intensity, while the quick, rough strokes convey a looser, more expressive handling that departs from his earlier naturalistic approach.
History & Provenance
The piece remains a representative example of his graphic output from the 1910s, reflecting both his personal health challenges and his evolving aesthetic.
Lovis Corinth, a central figure of the Berlin Secession, produced this print after a debilitating stroke in 1911 that altered his artistic language. Trained in Paris and Munich, he merged impressionist lightness with expressionist vigor in his mature period. The piece remains a representative example of his graphic output from the 1910s, reflecting both his personal health challenges and his evolving aesthetic.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Lovis Corinth was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism.
Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait)
Selbstbildnis 1919 (Self-Portrait 1919)
Selbstbildnis im Strohhut (Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat)
Selbstbildnis im Pelz (Self-Portrait in a Fur Coat)
Selbstbildnis im Strohhut (Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat)
Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait)
Self-Portrait (Selbstporträt)
Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait)
Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait)