Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. watercolor, pastel over graphite on white wove paper, Up Against It 9194

1981.13

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Up Against It

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Artist

Robert Carston Arneson (Benicia, CA, 9/4/1930 - 11/2/1992, California)

Title

Up Against It

Creation Date

1979

Century

20th century

Dimensions

41 7/16 in. x 29 11/16 in. (105.25 cm x 75.41 cm)

Object Type

watercolor

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

watercolor, pastel over graphite on white wove paper

Credit Line

Museum Purchase, Elizabeth B. G. Hamlin Fund

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

1981.13

San Francisco artist Robert Arneson drew this self-portrait as if his face were pushed up against the surface of the drawing. Known for his colorful persona and provocative style, Arneson renders his beard and balding head with explosions of colorful lines in pastel. In 1979, the year in which this work was created, the artist’s bladder cancer was particularly virulent. In depicting himself as if placed under glass, Arneson may be alluding to the terrifying medical procedures he was forced to undergo. He finished this drawing a year after the creation of a ceramic bust in which his face is similarly squeezed by an invisible surface. Manipulation of his own facial features in clay or on paper was one of his favorite subjects throughout his career.