Tonks, Henry

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Who is Henry Tonks?

Self-Portrait (1909)

1909

Oil on canvas

38.58 x 30.31 in; 98 × 77 cm

Tate

Full-length half-turned to his left and archly glancing to his right, seated in an armchair, holding a paintbrush in his left hand, both hands resting on his knees, his palette and other studio materials scattered around. The pose is somewhat like his portrait of George Moore called The Red Dressing Gown (1920).

I suspect that the earliest picture of George Moore by Henry Tonks was drawn in 1911, around the time of this painting; though a much earlier drawing has been attributed to Tonks (see it elsewhere in this Iconography).

Here the artist appears as Moore would have watched him while sitting for a portrait. Moore and Tonks shared the same biographer in Joseph Hone.

Owner: Tate, London, England.

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