Self-Portrait - 55 East Division Street 1948

This lithograph self-portrait, made by Ivan Albright, captures himself in a room at 55 East Division Street. Imagine Albright at work here, in a kind of dance with his own aging image. He is scrutinizing it, etching it, line by line. The level of detail is astonishing. It is all in these incredibly intricate details, capturing the textures of the aging flesh, the wrinkles, and the minute features of the face. The light and shadow are so intense, creating a depth that makes you feel like you could reach out and touch it. Albright is really seeing himself, but as an alien, right? I feel like he knows he's getting older and he's just going with it, not trying to pretty it up or anything, just laying it all out there. The composition is really something, with the cluttered space and the way the light catches on everything. It reminds me of other self-portraits, like Rembrandt's, where the artist is really digging into their own face.