Jack Levine’s particular kind of modernism went against the grain of his times. In a period when most painters were concerned with the novel possibilities of abstraction, Levine used a figurative style and often made art with pointed social and political commentary.
In this self-portrait as a soldier, the artist focuses on a moment of leisure, his hand supporting his head in the traditional gesture of pensiveness. The work’s cropping and informality suggest readiness in contrast to Levine’s expression of anxious reverie. The artist was drafted into the army during World War II, when he painted this intimate work.