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Artist
Abbott Handerson Thayer, 12 Aug 1849 - 29 May 1921
Sitter
Abbott Handerson Thayer, 12 Aug 1849 - 29 May 1921
Date
1920
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on plywood panel
Dimensions
Sight: 73.7 x 55.9cm (29 x 22")
Frame: 92.7 x 74.6 x 2.9cm (36 1/2 x 29 3/8 x 1 1/8")
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.81.22
Exhibition Label
Completed a year before his death, Abbott Handerson Thayer’s darkly dramatic self-portrait is one of several that he created at the end of his life. According to scholar Kevin Murphy, Thayer’s need to protect—from guarding his own children to caring for the environment in his home state of New Hampshire—was a guiding force for the artist. Thayer is best known for his landscapes and paint- ings of ideal women and winged angels, but he spent many years studying natural science and theo- ries of evolution. He developed ideas about camou- flage and visual protection in the natural world and co-authored a book with his son Gerald entitled Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom (1909). These ideas informed his approach to painting as well, for as in this portrait, he often used the paint- erly surface of his work, with its dark coloration and sense of insubstantiality, to hide elements of the figure.
Este autorretrato sombrío y dramático de Abbott Handerson Thayer, terminado un año antes de su muerte, es uno de varios que realizó al final de su vida. Según el académico Kevin Murphy, la nece- sidad de proteger —lo mismo cuidar a sus hijos que conservar el medio ambiente en su estado de New Hampshire— fue un principio que guió al artista. Thayer es conocido por sus paisajes y sus pinturas de mujeres ideales y ángeles, pero pasó muchos años estudiando ciencias naturales y las teorías de la evolución. Desarrolló ideas sobre camuflaje y protec- ción visual en el mundo natural y escribió junto con su hijo Gerald un libro titulado Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom (1909). Estas ideas influyeron también su enfoque en la pintura, pues a menudo utilizaba superficies pictóricas de tonos oscuros y apariencia insustancial para esconder elementos de la figura, como en este retrato.
Provenance
Elsie Reeves, College Park, Md., granddaughter of artist; purchased 1981 NPG
