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Woodcut in black ink on brown handmade paper with natural fibers. Signed by the artist, dated 1974, and annotated ‘trial proof’ lower center in pencil.
This is one of Jim Dine’s earliest known woodcuts which the artist carved and printed in black ink on brown handmade paper on his kitchen table in London in 1974. This is a unique printing; there is one other known impression printed on a brown handmade paper. Carved into a swatch of black, the artist’s face is defined by thin lines and soft white areas, his beard and hair a flurry of scribbles. This loose definition tightens around his lively eyes, which peer out from either side of a completely effaced nose. The composition’s shape and size evoke a mirror: Dine seems to look back at himself rather than out into the world. Self-portraiture is a vital, longtime aspect of Dine’s practice, whether the artist illustrates his likeness, or presents motifs that stand in for the self, such as the bathrobe, and his iconic brushes and hand tools. In a 1970 interview, Dine told the New York Times: “My subject matter is me. I’m really on an autobiographical voyage.”
