Zelfportret 1889 - 1949

Herman Moerkerk made this self-portrait drawing sometime in his life. The lines are tentative, almost like he’s feeling his way around his own face. I bet he started with the hat, framing his features, and then worked down to the soft knot of the tie. The cross-hatching on the coat gives it weight, a real sense of form. You know, making a self-portrait is such an odd thing – it’s you, but it’s also not you. It’s an image, a construction. What was Moerkerk thinking as he looked in the mirror? Was he trying to capture a likeness, or something deeper? These aren’t just lines on paper, they’re a record of a gaze, a moment of self-reflection. Drawing and painting is like that, isn’t it? An ongoing conversation artists have with themselves, with the world, with each other, across time.