Etching and aquatint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-hamilton-1244" aria-label="More by Richard Hamilton" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Richard Hamilton</a>
Selfportrait
Purchased 1982
abstraction
animals: features
animals: fish and aquatic life
animals: insects & lower animals
artist, multi-media
arts and entertainment
biology
body
chance
education, science and learning
emotions, concepts and ideas
figure
flatworm
formal qualities
from recognisable sources
Hamilton, Richard
head / face
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
micro-organism
named individuals
organic
people
portraits
sea urchin
self-portraits
shell
society
Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, ‘On Growth and Form’
work and occupations
<p>These prints, with their tentative shapes resembling amoebae, anemones and other forms of microscopic life, were made in response to D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's book on morphology On Growth and Form (1917). The book was a scientific study of the forms in nature, which argued that recognisable mathematical structures can be found in all organisms. The print titled Heteromorphism was used as the cover of a catalogue for Growth and Form, an exhibition inspired by Thompson's theories, which Hamilton and Nigel Henderson organised in 1951, when they were both studying at the Slade School of Art. (See display cases).</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print etching aquatint
11 February 2014 – 14 October 2014
2014-10-14
11 February 2014 – 26 May 2014
2014-05-26
2014-02-11
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2014-02-11
Richard Hamilton
Exhibition
Self-portrait
image: 300 × 196 mm
support: 375 × 277 mm
Purchased 1982
<p>These <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a>, with their tentative shapes resembling amoebae, anemones and other  forms of microscopic life, were made in response  to D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's book on morphology On Growth and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>Form</span></a> (1917). The  book was a scientific study of the forms in nature, which argued that recognisable mathematical structures can be found in all organisms. The  print titled Heteromorphism was used as the cover of a catalogue for Growth and Form, an exhibition inspired by Thompson's theories, which Hamilton and Nigel Henderson organised in 1951, when they were both studying at the Slade School of Art. (See display cases).</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hamilton-self-portrait-p07657" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07657</span></a> <b>Self-portrait</b> 1951</p>
<p>
<br/>Etching with aquatint and roulette 11 3/4 × 7 3/4 (300 × 196) on paper 14 3/4 × 10 7/8 (375 × 277), printed by the artist at the Slade School of Art, not editioned</p>
<p>Inscribed ‘Richard Hamilton’ b.l. and ‘Self-portrait’</p>
<p>Purchased from the artist (Grant-in-Aid) 1982</p>
<p><i>Lit</i>: Hamilton no.42, repr. p.35
<br/>
<br/>This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> combines two aspects of Hamilton's work: his use of autonomous marks, the making of which in itself determines the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>form</span></a> of the work, and his use of biological - i.e. natural - subject matter, drawn from Thompson's observation of the way things grow, as a visual language. Its third important aspect is described by Richard Morphet: ‘Hamilton's mouth is a sea-urchin, his ear a shell, his tie a flat worm regenerating after section, and one side of his face is defined by a bull-sperm. The Arcimboldesque principle points up the fact that in all Hamilton's Self-<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portraits</span></a> ... the artist becomes one with the substance of his current obsessions’ (Morphet, p.23).
<br/>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction animals: features animals: fish and aquatic life animals: insects & lower animals artist, multi-media arts and entertainment biology body chance education, science and learning emotions, concepts and ideas figure flatworm formal qualities from recognisable sources Hamilton, Richard head / face literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) micro-organism named individuals organic people portraits sea urchin self-portraits shell society Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, ‘On Growth and Form’ work and occupations