Self Portrait

Lovis Corinth, 1908

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Artist: Lovis Corinth (German, 1858–1925)
Medium: Brush and black ink with black chalk on heavy beige cardboard
Size: 27 3/8 x 23 1/4 in. (69.53 x 59.06 cm) (image)
Museum: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rights: Public Domain Mark

An intense competitor and a true believer in willful superiority, Corinth depicted himself as the epitome of the powerful, driven artist. With assuredness undergirded by decades of academic practice, he applied strokes of black ink—thinned out in varying degrees—that slash, dance, and sometimes scrub. Where he miscalculated, he made corrections, scraping the soft, textured surface of the thick cardboard. Finally, he shaded the background with broad strokes of black chalk, making his presence glow. His wide-eyed countenance, coupled with the ferocious intensity of his execution, lends a slightly crazed undertone to this Übermensch (superman), a status that would receive a serious blow when Corinth suffered a stroke three years later.

Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.