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Alternate Title
Robert Arneson Self-Portrait
Artist
Robert Carston Arneson, 1930 - 1992
Sitter
Robert Carston Arneson, 1930 - 1992
Date
1975
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Terra cotta
Dimensions
7 x 22 x 10.8cm (2 3/4 x 8 11/16 x 4 1/4")
With Socle: 10.8 × 22.2 × 7 cm (4 1/4 × 8 3/4 × 2 3/4")
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; the Ruth Bowman and Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Collection
Well known for his ceramic sculptures and his numerous self-portraits, Robert Arneson tests the boundaries of self-representation-and even those of art itself-with this self-portrait that depicts him symbolically, not pictorially. Despite its appearance, the object is not an ordinary building material, but was cast by Arneson himself. Brick's physical association with the artist is thus a key component of its function as a self-portrait. Evidence of his hand is visible in both his name stamped on top and in the signature inscribed on the side.
