Mose Tolliver

Mose Tolliver (1921–2006), Self-Portrait of Me, 1987

Housepaint on wood, 25 x 24 in.; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation

Throughout a thirty-five-year career as an artist, Mose Tolliver produced numerous self-portraits ranging from realistic images of the artist on his crutches to imaginative, anthropomorphized abstractions. He altered his likeness with a frequency that suggests an acute level of self-awareness and a desire to explore the multiple—and sometimes contradictory—physical and personality traits that constitute an individual’s identity.