Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Competition and Exhibition

It is not only fitting but something of a delight that, just over a century since Ruth Borchard’s birth, her stunning collection of self-portraits, by leading British 20th Century artists, should be marked by a new National Self-Portrait Competition. Her own collection was a labour of love growing out of her interest in diaries and other autobiographical material and her method of acquiring it, by offering the artists concerned the modest sum of 20 guineas was both shrewd and cheeky. However, she was rarely refused.

Today, in the age of instantaneous digital image-making, it might be assumed that self-portraiture has fallen from favour. Not so; it is as vigorous and as popular as ever. Whatever approach is taken to this apparently circumscribed activity (the response to one’s reflection in a mirror) Celia Paul’s prize-winning entry is characterised by a merciless, almost forensic scrutiny that transcends mere appearance.