This is an unusual self-portrait, as the artist appears only in reflection, partly obscured by a card stuck in the mirror’s frame. The lively brushstrokes belie its complex composition created by sophisticated spatial devices. The bottom half of the painting, with its horizontal bands, contrasts to the top section which is divided into vertical panels of differing colours.
Spencer Gore (English, 1878 - 1914)
Spencer Gore was recognised as a leading figure amongst his contemporaries but his untimely death, aged thirty-five, prevented him from fully developing as an artist. Born in Surrey, Gore studied at the Slade School of Art, London, from 1896-9. In 1904 he travelled to northern France and met Walter Sickert and Lucien Pissarro, who proved important influences - identifiable in Gore’s impressionist technique of this time. However, his style developed more towards Post-Impressionism, inspired by Paul Gauguin and André Derain. Gore was a founder member of the Fitzroy Street Group and was also involved with the formation of the Camden Town Group. He died in 1914 shortly after developing pneumonia.
