Self-Portrait

Herbert Bayer American, born Austria

1937

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

This nontraditional self-portrait was made by the Austrian-born modernist Herbert Bayer, who was known for his dynamic integration of drawing, painting, typography, photography, graphic design, and architecture. A professor at the Bauhaus in Germany from 1921 to 1928, Bayer emigrated to the United States in August 1938 after Hitler included one of his paintings in the infamous 1937 Degenerate Art show in Munich. He chose this photograph of his own hand holding a drafting pencil for the cover of his last (and largest) monograph—a 1984 volume that celebrates the artist’s multimedia expertise.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Self-Portrait
Artist: Herbert Bayer (American (born Austria), Haag 1900–1985 Montecito, California)
Date: 1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 4 1/2 × 4 5/8 in. (11.4 × 11.7 cm)
Sheet: 5 × 8 in. (12.7 × 20.3 cm)
Framed: 16 × 17 in. (40.6 × 43.2 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection
Curatorial Department: Photographs