Self-portrait

In 1931 Bomberg showed how temperamentally incapable he was of playing the discreet portraitist's role. Bomberg's style was unsuited to the task of gratifying his sitter's expectations. A letter from John Mabbott, a fellow of St John's College, Oxford, illustrates this point, 'our College is pretty representative, I think we have four fellows out of twelve or so who have some interest in modern works of art ... for a portrait of a colleague to be generally appreciated, any experimental work should be avoided. I'm sorry this is so because I like the determined directness of your pictures' (see R. Cork, David Bomberg, Yale, 1987, p. 190).