Self-Portrait 1925

Roderic O'Conor made this self-portrait with oil paint in what looks like a single, courageous session. I can almost feel the scratch of the brush against the canvas. See how the whites and pinks of his face sit atop a darker ground, and how the whole thing emerges from a shadowy space! I wonder if he was thinking about Rembrandt, and other painters of light and dark? Or maybe he was just trying to capture a likeness of himself, a fleeting expression, an air of self-awareness! The brushstrokes are like little jabs. They are confident and direct. His hair looks like a cloud of white and gray, a halo of thought. It reminds me that painting is such an embodied act – the movement of the hand, the pressure of the brush, and the layering of colors, can all communicate feeling, intention, and meaning. Whether he knew it or not, O'Conor was in conversation with all the painters who came before him, and all those who would follow.