Henri Matisse

Marguerite Matisse (the artist’s daughter)
Ralph & Mary Harman Booth, Grosse Pointe, Michigan (acquired in 1931)
Mrs William D. Vogel, Milwaukee (daughter of the above)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Les Cahiers d'aujourd'hui, Paris, 1923, no. 43, illustrated (titled Ancilla)
Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Henri Matisse chez Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1995, vol. II, no. 566, illustrated p. 1134 (as dating from 1923)

The beautiful face of a young woman in costume is the central focus of this intimate oil composition that Matisse executed in 1921. Matisse began that year with a resolve to explore the formal solidity of his subjects, and he embarked on a series of exploratory works in which he concentrated expressly on an isolated feature. 'I am searching for the density of things – instead of reducing what I see to a silhouette, I’m trying to convey volume and modeling,' he explained to his wife in a letter dated 1st January 1921 (quoted in Hilary Spurling, Matisse the Master, New York, 2005, 238). His practice to this end resulted in some of his most intensely colour saturated compositions rendered amidst a haze of soft light. Hilary Spurling recounts that Matisse's daughter Marguerite noticed that the artist's use of light in these pictures was the most important factor in intensifying the tonality of a given subject. She pointed out that 'each phase of strenuous, studious observation paid off in a burst of almost inconceivably audacious colour, which in turn enhanced the luminous subtlety of Matisse’s alternative low-key, brown and grey, northern palette' (ibid., pp. 238-239).

Venitienne (en buste) or Ancilla dates from the midst of Matisse’s experimentations to this end, and is an excellent example of the effects that he was achieving by focusing exclusively on his model’s face. Although she has not previously been identified, the model for this picture was presumably Henriette Darricarrère, who assumed the role of Matisse’s primary model that spring following the departure of Antoinette Arnoud. Among Henriette’s appealing characteristics, according to Spurling, were her 'innate dignity, her athlete’s carriage, the graceful way her head sat on her neck' (ibid., p. 241). Indeed the graceful head of the figure, adorned with a Venetian capello, is the primary concern of this intimate composition. On the reverse of the canvas Matisse's daughter Marguerite, the first owner of this work, inscribed 'Ancilla', the Latin word for female servant and could perhaps be a description of Matisse’s intended theme here.

The present work was originally in the collection of the artist's daughter Marguerite Matisse. Later it formed part of the important collection assembled by Ralph and Mary Booth. In a 1942 letter from Pierre Matisse to Mrs Booth, the artist's son confirmed that 'the painting belonged to my sister for about ten years after it was painted'. The Booths formed an outstanding collection in the 1920s and were influential in the founding of the Detroit Institute of Art. As President of the Arts Commission, Ralph Booth made important and forward thinking purchases for the museum including Van Gogh's Autoportrait of 1887 and Matisse's La Fenêtre of 1916, which was the first work by Matisse to enter an American public institution. Venitienne (en buste) has descended through the family to the present day and now, some 80 years later, is being offered at auction for the first time.