Self-Portrait in Profile n.d.

Curator: This is George Cruikshank's "Self-Portrait in Profile," created using pencil and coloured pencil on paper. The work is undated, but resides here at The Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: Immediately, I notice the economy of means. It's striking how much character is conveyed with so few lines and minimal color. The visible pencil strokes create texture and depth. Curator: Absolutely. Cruikshank was a prominent caricaturist and illustrator, deeply involved in the social commentary of his time. Prints like these were very accessible. This particular self-portrait offers an intriguing glimpse into his self-perception and the market around image making at the time. Editor: The visible technique feels very direct, almost immediate. There's a sense of capturing not just a likeness, but also a fleeting moment of self-reflection. Given his profession, I wonder about the accessibility of these drawings; paper production, pencils – who had access to these means of production at this time? Curator: That's a good point, there were rising levels of literacy, of course, as well as burgeoning markets for illustrated newspapers. This created more and more venues for artists and more spaces where these printed likenesses might circulate. Editor: Exactly, the means of production meet the venues for distributing likenesses: I suppose what interests me is the relationship between production, artist self-fashioning and his labor, of making pictures for a market. Curator: Fascinating, and so central to Cruikshank’s broader public image! A very poignant capturing of a professional in the process of producing his own image for wider public consumption. Editor: Indeed. The artwork really offers a sense of immediacy, providing us an intimate window into a well-known figure reflecting upon the mechanics of representation itself.