Self-portrait

Otto Gutfreund

Otto Gutfreund - Self-portrait
By 1919, cubism was fading in Gutfreund’s sculpture. In Paris, he modelled a self-portrait representing a turning point and the beginning of his „civilist“ period. Gutfreund’s sculptures from the 1920s are characterized by rounded and simplified forms, smooth modellation, frequent use of fired clay or plaster with colourful polychromy and a focus on the iconography of day-to-day life and phenomena of modern times. In his civilist self-portrait, Gutfreund stylized himself as a simple man wearing a fashionable low hat. He used hyperbole as a means of self-irony and highlighted certain of his facial features in a way bordering on caricature.
date:
measurements: height 45 cm
width 36 cm
depth 40 cm
material: coloured fired clay
inscription:
inventory number: P 1395
gallery collection: Collection of 19th Century Art and Classical Modernism