3 February
–
23 April 2006
Section
1: Defining DocumentaryWilliam Coldstream 1908-1987
Man with a Beard 1939
© Estate of the Artist
Coldstream said that he 'wanted to paint people'. During the 1930s he regularly painted portraits of people he encountered, from poets to businessmen. This acutely observed portrayal of an old man dressed in working clothes is typical of the observational style the artist adopted after working in documentary film. The sitter Mr Wall regularly modelled for Coldstream during 1939. The anonymity implied by the title highlights Coldstream's interest in painting the sitter as a 'type', rather than to provide an identifiable portrait.
Learn more about this
work in the Tate Collection