Henri Matisse

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired from the artist on April 19, 1921)
Dr. Jacques Soubies, Paris (acquired from the above on April 20, 1921)
Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired from the above on November 15, 1921)
M. Monteux, Paris (acquired from the above on March 29, 1922)
R.B. (sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 3, 1937, lot 13)
Acquired at the above sale by the grandfather of the present owner

Guy Patrice and Michel Dauberville, Matisse, Catalogue des oeuvres répertoriées no. 261 au no. 798, Paris, 1995, no. 474, illustrated p. 1008

Seated pensively in an armchair that is covered in a patterned fabric and draped with a white throw blanket, the model seems lost in thought. Her dark hair falls over her right eye and her white slip only partially covers her naked body. Although painted in the south of France there are no indications as to the locale in which the scene is set. Never exhibited, the present work is a particularly strong example of the work of Matisse’s Nice period but unlike it in many respects. Matisse had moved to Nice at the end of 1917, and, for the rest of his life, he would spend the greater part of his time there. In recent years, it has become apparent that the move from Paris to the south of France was not as sharp a break as previously supposed. Many of the works from the first years in Nice are, as John Elderfield has described them, “harmonious, light-filled, and often profusely decorated interiors, with languorous and seductive models, that sacrificed the interest of the avant-garde, an interest he regained only slowly in later years.  Matisse rejoiced in the light of Nice; color was subordinated to it. Thus, the flat, arbitrary colors of his preceding paintings, both 'decorative’ and 'experimental,' were replaced by a much broader range of soft tonalities that convey how reflected light will suffuse an interior, associating whoever or whatever is within it. Light is almost palpable in these paintings. Their sensuality and the quality of meditation they afford both depend on the gentle pulsation of light through them. Often, the pulsation of pattern will form an accompaniment” (John Elderfield, Henri Matisse A Retrospective (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992-93, p. 289).

 

This is true of a painting such as Deux femmes dans un intérieur, late 1920-early 1921 (see fig. 1) in which two models are relatively undefined presences in a light-filled, highly-patterned interior. In the present work, however, Matisse focused on the solitary figure of the model, choosing not to make her part of an environment composed of the mirrors, decorative screens, and fabric hangings that were so important in many works of the period. It may be described as the antithesis, perhaps, of the great painting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Le paravent mauresque (see fig. 2), in which Matisse’s ability to achieve a harmony between wildly different patterns reached a climax. In its relative austerity and intense focus on a withdrawn model, Nu au fauteuil is more closely related to a work of 1916, Lorette sur fond noir, robe verte (see fig. 3).  It is a fascinating example of the way in which, despite apparent differences in the appearance of his work, Matisse retained his commitment to draftsmanship and formal values, however “decorative” they might appear to be. 

Throughout the 1920s, Matisse would continue to paint variations on the theme of the model seated in the armchair.  Many of these scenes were set in his hotel room in Nice, with a window in the background that overlooked the Mediterranean.  While this work provides no such view, it does demonstrate the artist's focus on the grace and beauty of the female body in repose.  This aspect of his painting, among all else, established his reputation as one of the most sensitive artists of the 20th century.

Shortly after he completed this work, Matisse consigned it to Bernheim-Jeune, his dealer in Paris.  Bernheim-Jeune sold it almost immediately to Dr. Jacques Soubies, one of the most descriminating collectors of modern art during this era.

 

 

 

 

 

 Fig. 1, Henri Matisse, Deux femmes dans un intérieur, 1920-21, oil on canvas, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Collection Walter-Guillaume

Fig. 2.    Henri Matisse, Le paravent mauresque, 1921, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Bequest of Lisa Norris Elkins

 

Fig. 3, Henri Matisse, Lorette sur fond noir, robe verte, 1916, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection