Self Portrait in Red (+ Woman holding baby in white cap, on verso)
Eva Frankfurther was a German Jewish painter who fled to London in 1939 due to escalating violence from the Nazi regime. Between 1946 and 1951, she studied life drawing at St Martin's School of Art before moving to Whitechapel and working evening shifts at Lyons Corner House and, later, in a sugar refinery. With time to paint during the day, Frankfurther painted portraits of her local community in the East End of London, particularly its Jewish, Pakistani, West Indian and Irish inhabitants.
In this self portrait, the artist gazes into the distance, as if lost in thought. Traditionally in portraiture, the positioning of the hands and what they are holding is indicative of the profession and ambitions of the sitter. The lack of painting tools and the ambiguous painting rag, in contrast with the detailed treatment of the face, indicates that the artist was undecided on how she would like to be read or interpreted.