SOLD


Robert Austin:
Self-portrait and Jackdaw, 1949
Unmounted (ref: 11232)

Signed

Etching

Tags: Robert Austin etching interiors men 1.PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST

Provenance: The Artist's Studio

Literature: Llewellyn, Sacha, and Paul Liss. Portrait of an Artist. Liss Llewellyn, 2021, p.265.

During the Second World War Austin worked as a war artist recording the efforts of women in the Royal Air Force and in the nursing services for the War Artists' Advisory Committee. This enigmatic fish-eye lens self portrait, dated 1944,  shows Robert Austin working in an attic studio with a Jackdaw on his left shoulder.   Jackdaws were considered variously both omens of death and a symbol of renewal -  adding a further layer of mystery to the composition.

Self and Jackdaw is Post Campbell Dodgson 133; it was first printed in 1942.  Austin continued to alter the plate over the next seven years.

We are grateful to Michael Campbell and Rob Watson for assistance.