Self-portrait

Bellows, George, 1882-1925 · 1921

Bellows portrayed himself drawing directly on a stone. It was his only self-portrait, in any medium. He did not do a reversed version; he must have found the mirror-image of the mirror-image satisfying. "Self-Portrait" is one of the many personal and revealing images that Bellows composed on the lithographic stone and not on canvas. A thoughtfully studied list of his lithographs would show scenes of his childhood, his family, his friends--would even communicate Bellows' humor and innermost convictions--the autobiography that he never wrote. (Mason)