Roy Ward Ragle
Self-Examination Series Part II1987-1990

Not on view

Triptych print combining photographic portraits with detailed skeletal drawings overlaid on three figures, set against wave-like contour line backgrounds, in black, gray, and white

Artist or Maker: Roy Ward Ragle
United States, 1944–2014, active San Francisco
Title: Self-Examination Series Part II
Date Made: 1987-1990
Medium: Woodcut
Dimensions: Each: 28 1/4 × 38 1/4 in. (71.76 × 97.16 cm) Overall: 48 × 108 in. (121.92 × 274.32 cm) Frame: 55 1/2 × 42 1/2 in. (140.97 × 107.95 cm) 55 1/2 × 131 1/2 in. (140.97 × 334.01 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Carol Ragle
Accession Number: M.2019.300a-f
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Prints and Drawings
Curatorial Notes: A diagnosis of Crohn’s disease was a pivotal marker in Roy Ward Ragle’s life. It motivated him to begin a series of self-portrait woodcuts in which he attempted to capture the effects of the illness and his medication on his physical features over time. As the disease progressed, Ragle employed more experimental methods, using relief matrices made of aluminum foil when he no longer had the strength to carve into wood. Self-Examination Series Part II is the culmination of these self-portraits. Ragle depicts himself at the center of the triptych, flanked by his wife and therapist. Accompanying the figures are four human skeletons and a series of inky handprints, lending the work a macabre quality. Ragle filled the background with delicately undulating lines that look more like etching than woodcut.

The process for the work began with body prints of the subjects: clad in heavily inked clothing, each was individually lowered with ropes onto a woodblock. Ragle subsequently carved and manipulated the inked impressions in precise detail with the assistance of a dremel, a dental instrument for grinding teeth. Despite the physical hardship endured by the artist, the work exudes a gallows humor and a detached sensibility, showing us Ragle’s ability to express his deteriorating human condition without self-pity.

Claudine Dixon

2023
Selected Bibliography: Schillo, Eve, and Claudine Dixon. Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture; Ante Usted: La Captura del Ser en el Retrato. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2024.
Copyright: © Roy Ragle

Roy Ward Ragle
Self-Examination Series Part II1987-1990

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Roy Ward Ragle
United States, 1944–2014, active San Francisco
Title: Self-Examination Series Part II
Date Made: 1987-1990
Medium: Woodcut
Dimensions: Each: 28 1/4 × 38 1/4 in. (71.76 × 97.16 cm) Overall: 48 × 108 in. (121.92 × 274.32 cm) Frame: 55 1/2 × 42 1/2 in. (140.97 × 107.95 cm) 55 1/2 × 131 1/2 in. (140.97 × 334.01 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Carol Ragle
Accession Number: M.2019.300a-f
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Prints and Drawings
Curatorial Notes: A diagnosis of Crohn’s disease was a pivotal marker in Roy Ward Ragle’s life. It motivated him to begin a series of self-portrait woodcuts in which he attempted to capture the effects of the illness and his medication on his physical features over time. As the disease progressed, Ragle employed more experimental methods, using relief matrices made of aluminum foil when he no longer had the strength to carve into wood. Self-Examination Series Part II is the culmination of these self-portraits. Ragle depicts himself at the center of the triptych, flanked by his wife and therapist. Accompanying the figures are four human skeletons and a series of inky handprints, lending the work a macabre quality. Ragle filled the background with delicately undulating lines that look more like etching than woodcut.

The process for the work began with body prints of the subjects: clad in heavily inked clothing, each was individually lowered with ropes onto a woodblock. Ragle subsequently carved and manipulated the inked impressions in precise detail with the assistance of a dremel, a dental instrument for grinding teeth. Despite the physical hardship endured by the artist, the work exudes a gallows humor and a detached sensibility, showing us Ragle’s ability to express his deteriorating human condition without self-pity.

Claudine Dixon

2023
Selected Bibliography: Schillo, Eve, and Claudine Dixon. Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture; Ante Usted: La Captura del Ser en el Retrato. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2024.