It has an almost manic visionary quality and dates from the period between 1919 and 1926 when he painted self-portraits, sometimes in sparse interiors or placed in lyrical dreamlike landscapes, all in various states of self-absorption. The artist was influenced by the prevailing post-war New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) movement.

Provenance

Documented in the artist's photograph albums; Believed to have been purchased by a Czech-Jewish art dealer, c.1935, from an exhibition of Czech art in Brno; Nenad Djapic, 2006; Christie's, 2006.