Self-Portrait
c. 1920
Medium
lithograph in black on paper
Dimensions
image: 22.23 × 15.88 cm (8 3/4 × 6 1/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.7982
Art Historical Context
Raphael Soyer's *Self-Portrait* (c. 1920) is a striking lithograph that captures the artist in his early twenties, rendered in crisp black ink on paper. Measuring just 8¾ × 6¼ inches, this intimate print exemplifies Soyer's lifelong commitment to realism, a style he honed after immigrating from Russia to the United States as a child. Created during the post-World War I era, when America buzzed with jazz-age optimism yet simmered with social undercurrents, the work reflects Soyer's emerging voice as a chronicler of human experience. As a master printmaker, Soyer employed lithography—a planogra...