Henri Matisse

Schoneman Galleries Inc., New York
Robert Elkon Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1955

Executed on cream coloured wove paper laid down on card. There are artist's pinholes in the upper two corners and a maker's watermark to the lower left corner. There is glue residue to all four extreme edges of the reverse, faintly visible through the sheet. Apart from some minor surface dirt in the lower left quadrant and a speck of surface dirt in the upper left quadrant, this work is in very good condition. Colours: the paper tone is slightly brighter and the black outlines are stronger in the original.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Femme assise is a beautiful rendition of a subject that inspired Matisse's greatest creations, the sensuous female figure, executed at the height of the artist's career. Matisse's works of the late 1930s and early 1940s are largely devoted to this subject, often showing the model posed in an armchair such as in the present work.

Following the publication of the much-lauded series Dessins: Thèmes et Variations in 1943, Matisse continued to explore the expressive power of line drawing. Inspired in large part by his fascination with Islamic Art, the works on paper from this period are characterized by an elegant and graceful simplicity.

Matisse often spoke of how the act of drawing was integral to his approach to oil painting and exploring a subject. As Ernst Gerhard Güse explained, 'through the connection between the line and the artist's emotions, his inner life, the drawing becomes an act of assimilation, taking possession of nature' (Ernst Gerhard Güse, Matisse, Drawings and Sculpture, Munich, 1991, p. 10). The confident yet languorous pose of Matisse's model in the present work is typical of the artist's muses, their gazes directed unfalteringly towards the viewer reflecting an air of self-assurance. Attired in a flirtatiously low cut dress, the whole effect of Femme assise is one of profound confidence, both in terms of the sitter's own assurance of pose and in the artist's mastery of his medium and subject.