Self portrait

Raymond McIntyre arrived in England from New Zealand in 1909 and soon threw himself into the London art world. He joined the progressive London Group, exhibited with the prestigious New English Art Club and secured the leading Goupil Gallery as his dealer.

This self-portrait comes from the height of McIntyre's career. With his hat at a jaunty angle and spotted bow tie, the artist looks as though he has just sauntered into the picture. There are paintings on the wall behind him, suggesting that this might be McIntyre’s studio in Cheyne Walk or perhaps an exhibition in a fashionable London gallery.

A mystery
The portrait is inscribed ‘To my friend Edward August 1915’. This is probably the legendary American graphic designer Edward McKnight Kauffer, whose portrait McIntyre also painted. Why the work remained with the artist when it had been so inscribed remains unknown.