Malvin Gray Johnson
Self-Portrait
May one see it?
Unknown: the museum keeps its counsel
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C., United States
The owner is known. Whether it is on view today, the museum does not say, and we were not trained to guess.
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
In Self-Portrait, Malvin Gray Johnson addresses the viewer with hat in hand and a somber gaze. By placing his painting Negro Masks (1932) in the background, Johnson presents his own face as a mask among others. Collapsing foreground and background, he uses modernist techniques to assert his identity as a modernist painter.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1967.57.30
What it shows
Sources
- Smithsonian American Art Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 5 days ago
- Image: Smithsonian American Art Museum — CC0