Self Portrait 1
Part of a series of six paintings based on childhood photographs, Self Portrait 1 returns to images Alexander had known since early childhood and which had helped shape his sense of himself. Made before the culture of constant self-documentation, the paintings look back at childhood through photographs that had already become part of memory. Shortly after the series was completed, Malcolm Bull noticed that the highlights in the eyes appeared to have been retouched in the original negatives — a common studio technique used to make children appear more alert or alive. Alexander found the observation both funny and ironic. He realised that he had partly based his sense of himself on these small photographs, only to discover that the expression of life in them had been subtly manufactured by someone else.
Self Portrait II is in the permanent collection of the Pompidou Centre, Paris
Exhibited:
Mirrors of the Portrait: Shanghai (China) West Bund Art Museum
Pompidou Centre London 1998
Anthony Gallery 1998
Further reading:
Collected by Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner: Whitney Museum, New York
