Self-Portrait as a Witch

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest monster of all?

In this 1919 essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” the poet T.S. Eliot argues that innovation is always in conversation with tradition. We can see this idea in action in the self-portrait.

Horned witch, 18th century. Artist unknown.

We could say the selfie is an innovation on the tradition of self-portrait. Critics have wondered: is this work b…