Self-Portrait in profile 1942

This is Antonio Ligabue’s Self-Portrait in profile, painted with oil on hardboard. Look at the way he’s applied the paint, in such small quantities. It feels like he’s trying to figure something out, cautiously and meticulously mapping the geography of his face. The textured surface feels almost like a topographic map. The background is so curious, a patterned screen or gate that traps him in the frame. I wonder what it was like for Ligabue to make this? To stand before the mirror, scrutinizing his own image with such intensity. There’s a vulnerability in his gaze, a kind of searching. The palette is earthy and muted, but there’s an electric energy in the way he’s captured his own likeness. The way the folds of skin are articulated communicates a deep understanding of character. Ligabue, like many artists, was in dialogue with those that came before him. It’s like we’re all just trying to figure out what it means to be human, one brushstroke at a time.