Self-Portrait

"Self-Portrait" depicts Fein at the age of twenty-nine as she started work as a Master's student at the University of California, Berkeley. Fein rendered her head and shoulders separately from her hands and forearms. Each portion of her fragmented body is observed carefully for form and shading yet slightly exaggerated to emphasize a state of uncertainty and detachment from recent life changes. She had recently become a mother and moved to a new part of the country, apart from friends that she had relied on in both Wisconsin and Mexico. The nervousness evident in the placement of her hands, with their restless fingers, and the expression on her face, seems to indicate the strain of these many changes.