Henri Matisse

Colonel Réquin (acquired as a gift from the artist)

E. V. Thaw & Co., New York

Mr. William Acquavella, New York (acquired by 1984 and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 13, 1992, lot 28)

Acquired at the above sale through Acquavella Galleries

New York, Acquavella Galleries, XIX and XX Century Master Drawings and Watercolors, 1984, no. 6, illustrated in the catalogue

Stockholm, Moderna Museet & Humlebaek, Denmark, Louisiana Museum of Art, Henri Matisse, 1984-85, no. 112

Cahiers d'Art, no. 3-5, 1936, illustrated p. 91

Jean Selz, Matisse, New York, 1990, illustrated p. 26

This work is in very good condition. Sheet is hinged to the support. There are artist pinholes visible in each corner. Very faint mat stain along the perimeter. Sheet is somewhat light-struck. There is a slight scuff in between the breasts of the figure, as well as a possible scratch along the figure's left scapula (visible in the catalogue illustration).
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present work was executed approximately three years following the revolutionary Salon d'Automne of 1903. Probably executed around the same time of his early masterpiece La Bonheur de vivre, Nu couché is an excellent example of Matisse's expressive Fauve period drawing. The work is notable for its vivid strokes of thickly brushed ink that boldly delineate the provocative, sculptural form of the female nude. Regarding Matisse's early ink drawings, John Elderfield has written, "Linear and decorative plasticity are united, and being united they allow Matisse at one and the same time to decompose objects and to maintain a sense of their identities. The substance and specific identity of objects is corrupted in the visual flux, but the visual flux is made permanent: the abrupt drawing in paint presumes, and does not destroy the existence of objects from which it derives. Matisse seems actually to rebuild the represented subject from the chaos of sensations, and in that rebuilding to discover its emotional content" (J. Elderfield, The Drawings of Henri Matisse, New York, 1985, p. 40). The clearly defined contours, dense shadows, and linear patterns of Nu couché mark the distinct qualities of Matisse's innovative style emerging during the Fauve period.

Matisse wrote in 1908, shortly after executing the current work, "Expression, for me, does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive; the place occupied by the figures, the empty spaces around them, the proportions, everything has its share"  ('Notes d'un Peintre,' La Grande Revue, Paris, December 25, 1908).