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This self portrait is in the classical tradition of a mirror self-image. The stark framing of the mirror makes us aware that the distanced self-portrayal becomes a picture within a picture. Forge looks relaxed and informal. However, his rather bleary-eyed, puckered-lipped expression suggests a tentative weighing-up. Vertical and horizontal lines shows initial measuring up in the manner used by William Coldstream. Forge twice apologised for delays in contacting Borchard, saying he had been ‘terribly busy’. Indeed, as a painter, art critic and senior lecturer at the Slade, and then head of Fine Art at Goldsmith’s, his time was precious. In the 1960s, Forge came under Bomberg’s influence, as well as Frank Auerbach and Dorothy Mead – the latter with whom he had a relationship.
Forge was Professor of Fine Art at Yale from 1975–1983; he had a painting retrospective at the Yale Center of British Art in 1996.
Title
Self Portrait
Date
1956
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 76 x W 51 cm
Accession number
PCF35
Acquisition method
acquired by Ruth Borchard as part of the original collection
Work type
Painting