Henriette Daux: a self-portrait as a Manifesto of identity

Henriette Daux’s large Self-Portrait intertwines intimate fin-de-siècle portraiture with early Symbolist sensibilities to offer us a suspended Symbolist and pre-Modernist image. The artist, brushes in hand, faces the viewer with a perfectly gauged unflinching gaze, between psychological introspection and cognizant professional self-affirmation. By portraying herself at the easel, in her studio, Daux was strongly affirming the role of the female artist, transforming her self-portrait into a startlingly modern declaration of identity.