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Artist or Maker: David Bomberg (1890-1957)

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Description: Self-portrait
signed and dated 'Bomberg '31' (upper right)
oil on board
26 x 22 in. (66 x 55.9 cm.)

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Provenance: The Artist's Family.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 8 November 1990, lot 95, where purchased by the present owner.

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Notes: In 1931 Bomberg showed how temperamentally incapable he was of playing the discreet portraitist's role. Bomberg's style was unsuited to the task of gratifying his sitter's expectations. A letter from John Mabbott, a fellow of St John's College, Oxford, illustrates this point, 'our College is pretty representative, I think we have four fellows out of twelve or so who have some interest in modern works of art... for a portrait of a colleague to be generally appreciated, any experimental work should be avoided. I'm sorry this is so because I like the determined directness of your pictures' (see R. Cork, David Bomberg, Yale, 1987, p. 190).

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium