Self-Portrait

Almost satyr-like with his wild, curling hair and beard, Louis Anquetin catches himself with a sidelong glance, challenging us with an intense, one-eyed gaze. Throughout the 1890s, the artist returned again and again to this sort of self-portrait --- sometimes in paint, but more often and most effectively in quick pen sketches like this one. What is the character of that gaze? It is clearly an interrogation, but of whom? Himself? Us? Anquetin is best known for his colorful views of Parisian nightlife, filled with figures from the demimonde; in those works he turned his eye on others, but never with as much intensity or fervor as here.