Zelfportret met jas en hoed c. 1897

This is 'Self-Portrait with Coat and Hat' by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, a print of 380 by 190mm. De Mesquita, born in 1868 into a Portuguese-Jewish family, tragically died in Auschwitz in 1944. The self-portrait presents the artist as a figure of confident bourgeois society, complete with a cigar, cane, and carefully chosen attire. Yet, this image exists in stark contrast to the artist's eventual fate as a victim of the Holocaust. As a Jew in Nazi-occupied Europe, his identity marked him for persecution and ultimately extermination. It's impossible to look at this self-portrait without considering the enormous chasm between the man who created it and the circumstances of his death. The image serves as a poignant reminder of how identity can be both a source of pride and a target for oppression, and speaks to the fragility of life against the backdrop of historical atrocities.