Self-Portrait Sketching 1920

Lovis Corinth sketched this self-portrait with charcoal or crayon, and you can see how he’s felt his way around his own face. It’s a dark image. Not a lot of light getting in here. I’m drawn to the way the charcoal is built up, layer upon layer, almost like he’s building himself from the ground up. There’s this real sense of searching, of trying to capture something elusive. Look at the lines around his eyes. They are deep and heavy, like he’s seen a lot, or maybe he’s just really tired of looking at himself. The paper is exposed in few places, making the image emerge from the darkness. You can see the direction of the marks, the energy of his hand as he worked. It reminds me a little of Käthe Kollwitz’s self-portraits, or even some of the darker Rembrandts. Artists who aren’t afraid to look at themselves, warts and all. The realness of it is very moving. It shows the beauty in imperfection and searching.