Title
Self portrait
(1923)
Artist
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Details
- Date
- (1923)
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas, later mounted on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 61.0 x 53.0 cm stretcher; 80.0 x 70.0 x 6.5 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed l.r. corner, brown oil "A.S.".
- Credit
- Gift of the artist at the request of the Trustees 1924
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 948
- Copyright
- Artist information
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Arthur Streeton
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
The Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees asked a number of prominent artists in the 1920s to contribute a self-portrait to the collection. They invited a broad spectrum of painters, including those not known for portraiture, such as Margaret Preston. Streeton was invited in 1921 and completed his portrait after he had returned permanently to Australia in 1923. He was 56, secure in his standing as an artist, and a strong advocate for the importance of art, and yet this portrait suggests a more introspective figure than such a strong cultural contribution might suggest.
As a public-facing image, it shows a mature, thoughtful man who has had an eventful life, with mistakes as well as successes, and has lived it on his own terms, becoming an artist against the odds. As he replied to a patron who had criticised his paintings during the war, 'I just go on with my work, believing in myself, that's all'.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Artists by artists (1954), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Nov 1954–05 Dec 1954
To look within: Self portraits in Australia, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 16 Apr 2004–20 Jun 2004
To look within: Self portraits in Australia, National Portrait Gallery [Old Parliament House], Canberra, 09 Jul 2004–19 Sep 2004
Streeton, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 07 Nov 2020–14 Feb 2021
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Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
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Andrew Sayers, To look within: self portraits in Australia, 'The artist's self-portrait in Australia', pg. 6-33, Brisbane, 2004, 18, 20 (colour illus.).
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Sydney Ure Smith and Leon Gellert (Editors), Art in Australia [series 3, no. 40], Sydney, 15 Oct 1931, (illus.). plate no. 1
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