Henri Matisse

Gaston Bernheim de Villers, Paris (acquired by 1953)
Helen Serger (La Boétie, Inc.), New York (acquired in 1966)
Acquired from the above

Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Matisse, vol. II, Paris, 1995, no. 740, illustrated p. 1353

After much strife in his personal life, the reappearance of the artist’s favorite subject—the odalisque—marked his return to health and artistic productivity. The present work is a vision of luxurious comfort, enhanced by the use of inclusion of rich patterning which underscores the delicacy of Matisse's line. The sense of volume which Matisse creates with his nude models in Nu sur le canapé & Nu au collier is offset by a bold flattening of perspective in the decorative elements that fill the space on the verso. Matisse preferred to situate his models in richly-adorned spaces with patterned textiles, creating a dynamism in his drawings that is rarely matched in the Modernist canon. His focus, however, always remains on the model. This is even more notable on the recto, which celebrates the sumptuous sexuality of the female form in its entirety. Most notably formally is the stunningly sinuous line which extends from the figure's rib towards her right elbow on the verso, exhibiting the assured manner in which Matisse's approached his drawing practice.