Self-portrait

For Denise Ferrier, introspection seems to have been an essential precondition for creation.

It was only through self-portraits that she engaged in figurative representation.

Both drawn and painted, the many faces that she offered of herself reflect her interest in plastic experimentation, the relationships between form and colour and the central role given to lines.

This quest also led her to question her identity : at times majestic, painting facing the canvas, and at other times self-effacing, at the bottom of a still life, she defined herself as an artist.

Other images, through the fixedness of the gaze that engages the viewer, reveal the doubt and anxiety that often filled her.