Self-Portrait with Cigar
1922
Hans Reichel (German, 1892-1958)
Not on View

Though he never attained the preeminence of his colleague and close friend Paul Klee, Hans Reichel was nevertheless wholly dedicated to his art. Early in his career he moved to Munich, where he was arrested on more than one occasion for political insubordination. Reichel embraced spirituality in his work, and his interest in the sky, planets and stars, as well as in terrestrial elements like the sea and plants, were his main source of inspiration. The current self-portrait presents his acute interest in the effect of a line—here quivering, frantic and nervous. He has practically defaced himself with a flurry of scratches and grids. The novelist Henry Miller came to know Reichel very well in Paris and penned a eulogistic essay to the artist and his struggles. In it, Miller quotes Reichel on the quality of his pictures: “I want that the pictures should look back at me; if I look at them and they don’t look at me, too, then they are no good.”

Details

  • Artist Name: Hans Reichel (German, 1892-1958)
  • Title: Self-Portrait with Cigar
  • Date: 1922
  • Medium: Etching on wove paper
  • Dimensions: comp: 9-3/4 x 7-3/4 in. (24.8 x 19.7 cm); sheet: 11-7/8 x 9-1/8 in. (30.2 x 23.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
  • Accession Number: P.1953.309
  • Copyright: © 2017 Estate of Jean Schimek

Object Information

Gaze: Portraiture After Ingres

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2009-10-30 to 2010-04-05

Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2017-04-07 to 2017-09-25

From Europe to California: Galka Scheyer and the Avant-Garde

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2003-05-16 to 2003-10-13
  • The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 435 p. 155
  • Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 411 p. 411

Additional Artwork by Artist

Falling Star Hans Reichel 1921
Head of a Man Hans Reichel 1920
Two Running Birds Hans Reichel 1922
Untitled Hans Reichel 1922

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