Self-Portrait Shaving
1939
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 23.3 x 15 cm (9 3/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen in honor of the artist's 90th birthday
Accession Number
1999.82.4.34
Art Historical Context
**Self-Portrait Shaving by Jacob Kainen, in 1939, visitors into an intimate glimpse of the artist's daily life. This delicate graphite drawing on wove paper—measuring just 23.3 x 15 cm—captures Kainen mid-shave, rendered with meticulous precision. The smooth texture of wove paper, for its even surface, allowed the artist to achieve subtle shading and fine lines, highlighting the contours of his face, the glint of a razor, and the vulnerability of a private moment. Created during the turbulent late 1930s, amid the lingering Great Depression and rising global tensions before World War II, this ...
About the Artist
Jacob Kainen
Jacob Kainen was born on December 7, 1909, in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Russian immigrant parents who nurtured his cultural interests; his father was an inventor, and his mother instilled a love of music and literature. The family relocated to New York City in 1918, where Kainen immersed himself in art through newspaper clippings and visits to the Metropolitan Museum. After graduating from DeWitt...