Edward Dutkiewicz Self Portrait VII, 1990

British artist Edward Dutkiewicz (1961-2007), lauded for his use of bright colours and abstract forms and likened to Matisse and Alexander Calder by collector Michael Estorick,  often recorded his own varying moods in his painted self-portraits. 

Born in Staffordshire in 1961, Edward Dutkiewicz was the son of Polish immigrants who came to Britain at the start of World War II. A self-taught artist, Dutkiewicz based himself in the studio enclaves of London’s east end in his early 20s, prolifically creating expressionistic, raw, thickly-painted portraits alongside more abstract works and later, sculpture. Influenced by Bomberg and Rembrandt in his portraits, his exploration of texture, medium and surface in his figurative works often preceded notions of narrative while reflecting an emotional intensity towards his subject