Henri Matisse

Grace Raymond, Montreal
Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal
Private Collection, Canada
Proarte Gallery, Miami
Acquired from the above in 2006

Executed on cream colored wove paper, not laid down. Sheet is affixed to a mount at several places around perimeter on verso. Left top and right edges are deckled. A few small nicks to the extreme perimeter of the sheet, most noticeable at left edge. The lower left corner has a hardened crease and there appears to be a small repair near the center of the left edge. Some scattered pindots of foxing, most noticeable towards lower left and in the center of the figure's proper right arm, the latter pindot appears to have a small repair at its center. Watermark running along right edge of the sheet, a faint matte stain along the extreme perimeter and the sheet is slightly time darkened overall. The medium is strong and the work is in good condition.
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.

Henri Matisse’s drawings from the 1920s exhibit a breathtaking ingenuity and highlight his fascination with the reclining nude, a prevalent motif in his oeuvre. For Matisse, line drawing was the “purest and most direct translation” of his emotion, since “the simplification of the medium allows that” (quoted in Jack Flam, ed., Matisse on Art, Berkeley, 1995, p. 130). The interplay of white space and the spontaneous character of line was one that preoccupied Matisse greatly. In Femme allongée, Matisse applies this technique, creating a sense of volume with his nude model: he balances the bold and emphatic contours of her body with playful decorative elements that fill the space around her. As in many of his odalisque works, Matisse uses model Henriette Darricarrére in Femme allongée. Studying her pose, one can sense a comfortable attitude, a studied consistency well-versed by her memory of past sessions and exploration of the figurative pose. Matisse describes the role of his models in relation to his work, explaining that they were “never just ‘extra’ in an interior,” but a “principal theme” in his practice. He states: “the emotional interest aroused in me by them does not appear particularly in the representation of their bodies, but often rather in the lines or special values distributed over the whole canvas or paper, which form its complete orchestration, its architecture" (quoted in John Elderfield, The Drawings of Henri Matisse, London, 1984, p. 177).