Russell Kraus
St. Louis, (1918-2009)
I Russell, 1948
oil on masonite
dated lower left, and signed, dated, and titled on the reverse, framed.

Born in St. Louis to struggling German immigrants, at a young age Russell W. M. Kraus (1918-2009) became interested the arts, eventually practicing and excelling in a wide range of media and styles. He trained at Washington University, and his masterful body of work grew to reflect the changing times of the 20th century and could be placed in many categories: regionalism of the 1930s, dreamlike surrealism, cubism, WW2 posters (as part of his WPA job), commercial graphic design/ advertising of the 1950s, a series of self-portraits in costume (much like those created by Rembrandt), stained glass windows for churches in conjunction with Jacobi Studios, portraits of children made for his wife, mosaics with the Ravenna Mosaic Company, tapestries and jewellery; and after many decades of production, when he could no longer create material art, he turned to write poetry. For years Kraus worked inside a famous work of architecture (the 1891 St. Louis Wainwright Building by Adler and Sullivan, featuring red brick and terracotta designs); and Kraus commissioned a work of art as his home that became known as ?The Kraus Haus,? designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for him and his wife Ruth Goetz Kraus, an attorney at law.
Russell?s small self-portrait of exceptional detail is entitled, "I, Russell? and was created when the artist was 30 years old in 1948 (and as per the artist?s writing on the reverse, the portrait was covered in two coats of Damar varnish, a natural picture varnish that provides gloss and increases the brilliance of colors). Like Rembrandt, Russell often chose to dress in special costume for this self-portraiture work, and his attributes in this version include an informal ?American? look: the artist wears a red and green tartan shirt with the edge of his white undershirt slightly visible at the neckline; the artist?s prominent right hand on which he rests his chin; and his face depicted in an unusual way: his head and eyes are behind a creased and slightly crumpled paper bag (and one that has been playfully cut out around his eyes) made to resemble a simple, old-fashioned and humorous 1940s child-like play ?hat.? Like in other versions of his self-portraits, here Kraus chose to paint himself in an experimental and challenging fashion. While wearing his ridiculous ?hat,? he then gazes directly at the viewer with a dead-serious overall expression, clearly in search of our reaction. Kraus? framing is also exceptional: this piece is first framed in a smooth gilt frame and then set behind a deliberately worn frame made out of worn wood with chipped paint with some wormwood holes gnawed throughout; this personalised double framing helps create an even more bizarre setting for this small-scale and quite solemn yet facetious self portrait.
6 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches