Do you recognise this face? He is perhaps among Western art history’s most consequential, appearing in Jan van Eyck 1434 painting ‘The Arnolfini Portrait’ (also known as the ‘The Arnolfini Wedding’). This painting, which sees newlyweds gingerly clasps hands in a Dutch interior, is considered a turning point in art history. It is renowned for its beauty, complex iconography, orthogonal perspective and use of a mirror to expand space. There is also something mysterious about ‘The Arnolfini Portrait’. In the mirror’s eye are unknown figures – who are they? Van Eyck simultaneously compresses and expands space, inviting the outside world into the heart of his composition.
Throughout history, ‘The Arnolfini Portrait’ has bewitched audiences, compelling them to make meaning from its peppering of clues: a bed, cherry trees glimpsed from an ajar window, three oranges, a small dog, Van Eyck’s signature and not least, the spied strangers who dash painting’s sense of self-containment.
In ‘Unknown (Arnolfini)’ Shaike Snir evokes this nexus of mystery. In a Warholian way, he remixes the man’s face, superimposing his own design over it. Snir feels an affinity with Arnolfini, making this work a kind of peripheral self-portrait, as well as a subversion of Western art iconography.
An Israeli-Australian artist, Snir is cited as a master printmaker the National Gallery of Australia and has collaborated with numerous renowned artists including Lin Onus and David Larwill. For collectors of figurative prints, those intrigued by art history and those with a penchant for pop art, this work is for you.
Shaike SNIR (1952 - )
'Unknown (Arnolfini)'
screenprint on paper
Image Size: 71 x 54 cm
Dimensions: 76 x 56 cm
Signed: Signed, titled and inscribed in pencil in margin below image.
Comes with Letter of Provenance
Availability: in stock
Condition:Very Good: Describes a work of art’s image As New, but may show some small signs of surrounding wear. There are no tears to paper margin or disruption to paint surface. Image is in Fine condition.
© The Artist or Assignee
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