The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch) is a 2012 painting by the Australian Tim Storrier. Inspired by the painting The Wayfarer by Hieronymus Bosch, it portrays a walking man with no face who carries various objects and a dog. According to Storrier, it is a self-portrait. It received the 2012 Archibald Prize.
The painting shows a man with no visible head who walks in a barren landscape. He wears explorer's clothes consisting of boots, a light suit and a pith helmet. He wears glasses and carries various objects in bags, pockets and an over-stuffed backback. Although the figure has no face, Storrier says it is a self-portrait, revealed by the clothes and equipment. The figure carries Storrier's dog Smudge and there is a paper with a drawing of Storrier's face that blows in the wind.[1] Storrier describes it as a depiction of the artist's burdensome journey, showing himself "clothed in the tools to sustain the intrigue of a metaphysical survey".[2]
The Wayfarer, c.1510
Storrier says the origin of the painting was a desire use Hieronymus Bosch's The Wayfarer from circa 1510 as a reference. His starting point was its subject of a pilgrim making a choice between good and evil. It then evolved into a self-portrait.[1][3]
Reception
The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch) received the 2012 Archibald Prize for portraiture.[4][5] It was the second year in a row that Storrier competed for the prize with a faceless self-portrait. He thanked his dog in his acceptance speech, saying: "I suppose you can say I have won with a portrait of a dog".[1][6]
Legacy
Storrier made a life-size bronze sculpture based on the painting which stands at the campus of Bond University.[7]
Versions of the wayfarer character appear in several later Storrier paintings, such as Speed Dauber and The Dauber (rushing).[8]
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