Minneapolis Institute of Art

Self-Portrait

Lovis Corinth

Date

April 19, 1923

Medium

Pen and brown ink on cream wove Japanese paper

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Lovis Corinth advocated for an aggressive, intensely competitive approach to life, going so far as to offer this advice: “Use all your might to achieve your highest goal. . . . use your greater strength to push your rivals against the wall until they can no longer gasp.” Then, in 1911, Corinth had a stroke and suddenly found his physical powers greatly diminished. After that he made many self-portraits, showing his own frailty with unflinching honesty. When an artist requested a photograph of Corinth, presumably to make a caricature for a satirical magazine, Corinth instead sent him this drawing. Was he sardonically presenting his own features to suggest that nature had already perpetrated the distortions of a caricaturist? Germany, Europe

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