Self-portrait, Jacob Bendien, c. 1930

paper, h 320mm × w 250mm More details

To a certain extent Bendien is the odd one out in this group, because he consistently produced abstract work alongside figurative compositions. It is as if he was transfixed by his own mirror image when he drew this intense self-portrait. But apart from the penetrating gaze, there is little life here. Bendien himself called this drawing a ‘Spiritual self-portrait’.