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Associated Title
Portfolio: New York 10
Artist
Jim Dine, born 16 Jun 1935
Sitter
Jim Dine, born 16 Jun 1935
Date
1964
Type
Print
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 56.1 x 43cm (22 1/16 x 16 15/16")
Mat: 74.1 x 61.1cm (29 3/16 x 24 1/16")
Topic
Self-portrait
Jim Dine: Visual Arts\Artist
Jim Dine: Male
Jim Dine: Visual Arts\Artist\Sculptor
Jim Dine: Performing Arts\Costume designer
Jim Dine: Performing Arts\Scenographer
Jim Dine: Visual Arts\Designer\Interior designer
Jim Dine: Visual Arts\Artist\Performance artist
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; the Ruth Bowman and Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Collection Conserved with funds from the Smithsonian Women's Committee
Jim Dine, whose work often depicts objects with which he feels a personal association, adopted the motif of the bathrobe as a self-portrait after spotting one in an advertisement in the New York Times in 1964. For Dine, the image was more than just a found object. As he explained, “There was nobody in the bathrobe, but when I saw it, it looked like me.” Shortly thereafter, the robe became the basis for an exhibition of paintings at the Sidney Janis Gallery. The robe also served as the motif for the artist’s first foray into etching. As though reflecting his pride in his early command of a medium that he would describe as “drawing with acid,” the bent elbows of the robe—conveying the invisible gesture of an artist with his hands on his hips—seem to signal youthful satisfaction.
Jim Dine suele representar objetos con los que siente una relación personal. Escogió el motivo de la bata de baño a manera de autorretrato luego de ver dicho objeto en un anuncio publicitario del New York Times en 1964. Para él, la imagen fue más que un mero objeto encontrado. Según explicó: “Nadie llevaba puesta la bata de baño, pero cuando la vi, se parecía a mí”. Poco después, la bata sería la base de una exposición de pinturas en la Sidney Janis Gallery. También sirvió de motivo para la primera incursión del artista en la técnica del aguafuerte. Como si reflejara el orgullo de Dine por sus primeros trabajos bien logrados en una técnica que describió como “dibujar con ácido”, la bata con sus mangas arqueadas, comunicando el gesto del artista invisible con las manos en las caderas, parece expresar una juvenil satisfacción.
