Mirror Image – Self portrait

Artist Jehangir Sabavala (1922 – 2011)

dated 2007, Serigraph on paper
22 x 29.5 in. (55.9 x 74.9 cm.)

Jehangir Sabavala’s Mirror Image is a contemplative self-portrait rendered in his signature style—poetic, restrained, and deeply introspective. This serigraph captures Sabavala’s distinct visual language: a meticulous orchestration of faceted planes, subdued hues, and atmospheric stillness. His face emerges from a fractured landscape, partially obscured by soaring birds that become metaphors for thought, memory, or inner vision. The composition is both analytical and lyrical, echoing his deep engagement with solitude, identity, and the metaphysical.

He was trained at the Royal Academy in London and later at the Académie Julian and the Académie André Lhote in Paris. Sabavala fused classical training with modernist idioms. His work is known for its architectural structure, layered textures, and serene yet enigmatic aura. Influenced by Cubism and the École de Paris, he developed a uniquely Indian modernism—disciplined and elegant, with an almost spiritual quality.

In Mirror Image, Sabavala turns his gaze inward. The fractured planes suggest both self-examination and a dissolving ego. Unlike typical self-portraits that assert presence, this one evokes transience and reflection. It invites the viewer to contemplate not just the artist, but the impermanence of identity itself. It is as much about the inner landscape as it is about the outer visage.