From Room to Room
Tindle's method of painting, using egg tempera paint, continues a tradition established by early Italian painters and continued later, in 1920s Britain, by artists like Joseph Southall (1861-1944). The use of tempera permits a detailed technique in which the image is built up from small, hatched strokes of paint. The artist made his reputation painting still lifes set in simple interiors, often suggesting human presence but rarely depicting it. He has now begun to explore portraiture, and this self-effacing self portrait has a content and composition very similar to those still lifes, particularly in the framing of his figure in the door. Although Tindle has portrayed himself in full length the small scale of the work reduces his presence, diminishing his character somewhat. This contrasts well with other more brash portraits in the Ferens collection, like John Kirby's Man with Rat.
