SELF PORTRAIT IN A CARVED MIRROR, 1972

Works from the Donald Friend Collection
Sydney
27 October 2013
29

DONALD FRIEND

(1915 - 1989)
SELF PORTRAIT IN A CARVED MIRROR, 1972

pen, ink, watercolour and gouache on paper

75.5 x 55.5 cm

signed and inscribed lower left: Carved Mirror / Self Portrait /Donald Friend / Bali

Estimate: 
$15,000 - 20,000
Sold for $66,000 (inc. BP) in Auction 31 - 27 October 2013, Sydney
Exhibited

Recent Works, Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney, 17 October – 4 December 1972, cat. 38 (as'Reflections in a Balinese Mirror')
Donald Friend Retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 9 February – 25 March 1990; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 14 April – 6 June 1990; and Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 26 June – 19 August 1990 (label attached verso)
Donald Friend, A Charmed Life, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 9 November 2006 – 4 February 2007, final diary launch (volume 4)

Literature

Borlase, N.,'Story-book worlds', The Bulletin, Sydney, 28 October 1972
Pearce, B., Donald Friend, 1915–1989: Retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1990, cat. 88, p. 109 and front cover (illus.)
Donald Friend's Bali, Art Gallery of New South Wales and The Beagle Press, Sydney, 1990, p. 67 (illus.)

Catalogue text

The idea for this composition, which made use of a Balinese mirror in Friend's collection (see lot 30), probably had its basis in a cartoon sketch in the artist's diary dated August 1972 which carries the following caption: 'The Exhibition' he exposes (himself) his subject (himself) and reveals himself.'1 

1. Pearce, B., Donald Friend, 1915-1989: Retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1990, p. 109