Mrs T. Charlton Henry was a Philadelphia socialite, a philanthropist, and a fashion icon – often top of the ‘best-dressed’ lists. She was the kind of wealthy upper-class woman that Arbus’s father would have hoped to see in his Fifth Avenue department store buying the latest furs. This portrait was made on assignment for Harper’s Bazaar and is among several taken around Mrs Henry’s impressive home. A pillar of society, she was not a typical subject for Arbus. Here Arbus carefully frames the formidable figure of her subject in her elegant, spacious hallway. The haughty expression on her heavily made-up face, her dramatic hairstyle, and her ostentatious jewellery together create an impression of the power and confidence of the upper classes.