Self-Portrait (with Wife)

In Raphael Soyer's etching Self Portrait (with Wife), the artist, perhaps suffering from insomnia, stares intently out while his wife sleeps on the bed in the background. As he rests one hand on his cheek, the artist seems to gaze directly at the viewer, although he was probably peering into a mirror in order to observe as he drew himself and his bedroom setting. Loosely scribbled lines suggest his shirt, while more densely concentrated strokes render his somewhat haggard, unshaven face, with its set mouth, wide-open eyes, uplifted eyebrows, and furrowed brow beneath unruly strands of hair. The artist made no attempt to flatter his appearance in this brutally honest portrayal. To anchor the lower left of the composition, a few wispy lines denote a glass of water.

 In an earlier state of this etching made in 1964, as well as a 1967 lithograph version that reverses the image, Soyer shows the unshaven artist and his sleeping wife in a loosely sketched interior with lighter walls with a patterned wallpaper. In 1974, the artist reworked the same etched plate by adding densely cross-hatched lines so that the bedroom walls would print as an even, dark tone, thereby providing a more dramatic contrast with the lit doorway, which casts light on the sleeper lying on the bed. The darker background throws Soyer's self-portrait into relief, more emphatically highlighting his haggard expression and the gestures of his hands. This print is among numerous self portraits Soyer made in the course of his career. As this image and another Self Portrait (TF 2004.4, TF 2004.7) made the same year attest, in his later years the artist did not shrink from depicting his aging appearance.

Cole, Sylvan with foreword by Jacob Kainen. Raphael Soyer: Fifty Years of Printmaking 1917–1967. New York: Da Capo Press, 1967. No. 107 [cites 1964 version of this print].