Self Portrait 1904

Boris Kustodiev sketched this self portrait on paper with crayon and pencil. I love the immediacy of this piece, you get a real sense of Kustodiev at work, thinking through the drawing. Look at the surface texture. You can see the grain of the paper, the soft smudges of the crayon and the sharp lines of the pencil criss-crossing to create tone. The colours are soft and restrained, a limited palette. It’s all about touch, the pressure of the hand on the page. The way the pencil lines build up around the moustache is amazing, a real density of mark making. It reminds me of Cezanne’s pencil portraits, especially the way that he uses hatching to build up form. Like Cezanne, Kustodiev seems less interested in capturing a perfect likeness, and more interested in the process of looking and drawing. It's a very honest, and very beautiful self-portrait.