A drypoint self portrait of the artist. Bone wears a cap, and looks up from his writing to meet the viewer’s gaze. The man makes eye contact with the viewer, as if surprised to have been interrupted from his work. He holds a pen in his hands which are resting on a book. The background is crosshatched throughout, creating a dark atmosphere. The background and the man’s shoulder fade into the background, as the light hits his hat and hand. The book on which Bone is writing is signed with his name along the spine. Signed by artist.

Born in Glasgow, Muirhead Bone (1876-1953) was a prominent London based printmaker and an official war artist in both the First and Second World Wars. Bone began practicing printmaking in the 1890s and moved to London in 1901.