Self-Portrait
George Tooker
This print is a self-portrait of the artist at age seventy-six. An anxious-looking Tooker, sporting a full beard and mustache, looks away unable to meet the gaze of the viewer. Behind him stands the figure of death who places a bony hand upon the artist's right shoulder. The image echoes Swiss Symbolist Arnold Bocklin's 1872 painting "Self Portrait with Death Playing a Violin (Staatliche Museen, Berlin Germany). Yet as is the case with Tooker, he has transformed the image into an intimate and haunting depiction that could be read equally as witnesse's vision and projection of the artist's imagination.
Artist
Date of Birth
(1920-2011)
Date
1995
Medium
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions
12 1/16 x 18 1/8 in. (30.63875 x 46.0375 cm.)
Accession #
2008.25
Credit Line
Gift of DC Moore Gallery, New York
Copyright
© artist or artist's estate
Category
Subject
We're so excited you're planning to visit PAFA!
Make time for art — visit us Thursday to Sunday.
Before reserving your tickets, please review helpful information about museum hours, accessibility, building access, and special admission programs.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at visitorservices@pafa.org — we’d love to help!