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Black ink bust portrait of a man staring at the viewer in front of a country scene.

In this bust portrait, a centered man stares directly at the viewer. He has short-cropped hair and a long beard and mustache, all either blond or white. The wrinkles on his face bely his age, and his brow is furrowed. He wears a dark coat, with a white button up and black bowtie. A band with vegetation below him reads "Hans Thoma," revealing this to be a self-portrait. Behind him is a country scene: on the left is a field and wooden split rail fence, with a line of trees beyond; on the right is a tall fir tree.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
M12710
People
Hans Thoma, German (Bernau im Schwarzwald, Germany 1839 - 1924 Karlsruhe, Germany)
Title
Self-Portrait II
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Selbstbildnis II
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1898
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/257996

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Etching and drypoint on off-white wove paper
Technique
Etching and drypoint
Dimensions
image: 21.4 × 15.8 cm (8 7/16 × 6 1/4 in.)
plate: 33.2 × 18.5 cm (13 1/16 × 7 5/16 in.)
sheet: 40.6 × 33.1 cm (16 × 13 1/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: graphite, l.r. Hans Thoma
  • inscription: within plate mark, below design, lower right, graphite, handwritten, in artist's hand: Hans Thoma
  • inscription: engraved in plate, in band below image, black printer's ink, engraved in plate, in artist's hand: Bernau 1898 Hans Thoma

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beringer 459, Beringer (1991) 30

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Charles D. Childs Gallery
Accession Year
1952
Object Number
M12710
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Herbert Tannenbaum, ed., Hans Thomas Graphische Kunst, Ernst Arnold (Dresden, 1920), no. 459, b/w illus. p. 65
  • J.A. Beringer, Hans Thoma Radierungen (1923), no. 30, b/w illus. (upaginated section)

Exhibition History

  • From the Realists to the Expressionists: Works on Paper by Central European Artists from 1870 to 1918, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 03/14/1983 - 04/29/1983
  • Before Expressionism: Art in Germany circa 1903, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/24/2003 - 02/15/2004
  • 32Q: 1440 Secessionism: Munich, Vienna, Berlin (Expressionism), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/01/2018 - 10/11/2018

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu