Self-portrait, Patrick Swift, Oil on canvas, c.1951


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AN IRISHMAN'S DIARY
Bird-man
In the self-portrait which is included in his one-man show at the Waddington Galleries, Patrick Swift has painted himself holding a dead woodcock. People who know the painter have described this as a double self-portrait; for the most striking physical qualities of Swift are his bird-like head and face.
His close-textured brown hair sits on his head like a cap of feathers; his nose is long, prominent and beaky; his eyes are a greenish hazel, like a seagull's, and are as alert as a watching gull's, but without the predatory cruelty. The whole physical impact of Swift is of a man who is poised and elusive...
- QUIDNUNC (Seamus Kelly), The Irish Times, Oct 11, 1952

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