John Bellany, 1942 - 2013. Artist (Self-portrait) (with Alan Davie, 1920 - 2014)
About this artwork
During the mid-1980s, Bellany increasingly focused on portraiture as a creative outlet. Rather than achieving as close a likeness as possible, Bellany’s portraits are vibrant visual statements that often say something about himself as well as the sitter. Not surprisingly, the self-portrait is central to the artist’s oeuvre. In this image, the artist – on the right – and fellow artist Alan Davie seem compressed by magical symbols, which play a large role in both men’s work. This double portrait is the homage of one artist to another; just as Bellany's paintings have inspired the younger generation of Scottish artists, so did Davie's before that inspire Bellany's generation. Yet it is also a painting where the two artists, side by side, watch us, the public, inspect their work.
Updated before 2020
-
artist:John Bellany (1942 - 2013) Scottish
-
title:John Bellany, 1942 - 2013. Artist (Self-portrait) (with Alan Davie, 1920 - 2014)
-
date created:Dated 1983
-
materials:Oil on canvas
-
measurements:213.30 x 165.00 cm
-
object type:
-
credit line:Purchased 1984
-
accession number:PG 2632
-
gallery:
-
depicted:
-
subject:
-
artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
John Bellany
John Bellany
Bellany was born in the fishing village of Port Seton, near Edinburgh. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art and at the Royal College of Art, London. His work of the 1960s and 1970s dealt with original sin, guilt, sex and death. His characteristic paintings are large compositions featuring his own...