Self-Portrait 1928

This portrait by Jose de Almada-Negreiros, likely made with graphite or charcoal, has this cool, almost detached feel to it. I can imagine him in his studio, twenty-something, staring into a mirror, trying to capture not just his face, but something deeper, something about who he is. The lines are so deliberate, so carefully placed. Look at the way he’s shaded the hair, each strand a tiny mark, building up this dark, solid mass. And then, the eyes – they’re like pools, dark and intense, but also a little bit sad, maybe? I wonder what was going through his head that day in 1928 when he made this image. Was he feeling confident, unsure, or maybe a bit of both? You know, drawing yourself is a trip. You're trying to see yourself from the outside and the inside at the same time. Like a conversation between what you think you look like and what you feel like. Every artist who's ever done a self-portrait is in a dialogue with every other artist, it's a continuum.