Self-Portrait with Brushes
About this artwork
This picture was painted after Davie's father (also an artist) gave his sixteen-year-old son oil paints, brushes and a mirror and invited him to paint a self-portrait. Davie has the intense and serious look of a young artist engaged in his work, clutching the tools of his trade. The painting was submitted as part of the artist's portfolio to Edinburgh College of Art, and helped to gain him an entrance scholarship. It is probably Davie's second painting, painted immediately after another self-portrait, which the artist later destroyed.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Alan Davie (1920 - 2014) Scottish
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title:Self-Portrait with Brushes
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date created:1937
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materials:Oil on wood
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measurements:61.00 x 46.00 cm; Framed: 82.40 x 67.10 x 6.00 cm / 8.00 kg
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased with the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund, 1997
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accession number:GMA 4108
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Alan Davie
Alan Davie
Davie was born in Grangemouth, near Edinburgh and studied at Edinburgh College of Art. In 1948 he saw the work of the American Abstract Expressionists and was impressed by their intensity and freedom. He abandoned traditional methods of composition and subject matter and sought to free his art from...