Emil Armin, (1883-1971)
Emil in the Mirror, 1932
Oil on canvas, 26 x 22 1/4 inches 
Illinois State Museum collection
Gift of Hilda D. Armin Trust

"...Well, a man had got to put down the things that are around him. A man, .... has got to be honest. He has got to put down what is in him. Have you ever heard what happened to Rembrandt, how he went bankrupt and almost starved in the ghetto? He said — 'all I want is my tools to work with and bread to eat.' This is all an artist can ask for. You see I tried to say what was in me . . ."  — Emil Armin (quoted in Thirty-five Saints and Emil Armin, by J. Z. Jacobson, 1929)

How did Armin follow his own advice in painting his self portrait?