Artist

Robert Arneson

born Benicia, CA 1930-died Benicia, CA 1992
Media - portrait_image_113314.jpg - 89885
© 1982 Mimi Jacobs; Courtesy Mimi Jacobs Papers, Archives of American Art.
Also known as
  • Robert Carston Arneson
  • Robert C. Arneson
Born
Benicia, California, United States
Died
Benicia, California, United States
Biography

Feeling Pushed captures Robert Arneson at an especially stressful moment in his life. Two years earlier, he had been diagnosed with cancer, possibly caused by the chemicals contained in his art materials. He underwent surgery and was required to return to the hospital numerous times. Despite this serious threat to his health, Arneson injects humor into his self-portrait, even vulgarity. His face seems to be pushed up against a piece of transparent glass that flattens his nose into a piggish snout, while his wild hair and wrinkled features expresss the tension and anxiety that characterize his state of mind. The artist appears like a specimen prepared for a microscopic examination. Areneson frequently turned to self-portraiture as a means to examine his relationship with the world, expressing serious thought and difficult emotional content through the filter of a humorous mask.

Joann Moser Graphic Masters: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2003)

Works by this artist (1 item)

Peter Saul, Untitled (Bathroom), 1961, pastel crayon and collage on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Gene Davis Memorial Fund, 2009.19, © 1961, Peter Saul
Untitled (Bathroom)
Date1961
pastel crayon and collage on paper
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 1999.80 - SAAM-1999.80_1 - 52092
Graphic Masters III: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
January 15, 2010August 7, 2010
Graphic Masters III: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the third in a series of special installations, celebrates the extraordinary variety and accomplishment of American artists' works on paper.