Autoportrét s paletou 1925 - 1930

Arnold Peter Weisz-Kubínčan made this self-portrait with pastel crayons on paper sometime before 1944. The marks are scratchy and tense, shifting and emerging through the artist's intuition, with an earthy palette of reds and browns. I can imagine Weisz-Kubínčan in his studio, maybe a little dark, maybe a little cold, scrawling away at this image of himself. What must it have been like, staring into a mirror, trying to capture your own essence? The texture of the pastel is key here. It’s not thick, but it's definitely present, adding to the emotional resonance of the work. Look at the way he renders his face – those sharp, almost aggressive lines around the eyes and mouth communicate so much feeling. Is it defiance? Is it resignation? Painters are always in conversation, riffing off each other's ideas across time. Weisz-Kubínčan would have been looking at other painters, and other painters will look at him in the future. It’s a constant exchange, inspiring creativity across generations. Painting embraces ambiguity, uncertainty, and multiple readings. It’s never fixed, never definitive.