Lot 10

Henri Matisse

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Description

Henri Matisse
Femme assise dans un intérieur: le Tabac Royal
Signed and dated Henri Matisse 40 (lower left)
Pencil on paper
13 by 17 1/4 in.
33 by 44 cm

Provenance

Marcel Flavian (sold: Sotheby & Co., London, December 5, 1962, lot 17)
Marlborough Fine Art, London (acquired at the above sale)
Gallery Berggruen et Cie., Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited

Paris, Galeries Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition des Chefs d'Oeuvre de Matisse, 1958
London, Marlborough Gallery, 19th and 20th Century Watercolours, Drawings and Sculptures, 1964, no. 67
Kassel, Documenta III, 1964, no. 13
London, Marlborough Gallery, Drawings and Paintings, 1964, no. 45

Literature

Lydia Delectorskaya, Henri Matisse, Contre vents et marées: Peinture et livres illustrés de 1939 à 1943, Paris, 1996, illustrated p. 106 (titled Graciella, robe blanche, culotte rouge, dahlias rouge and as measuring 40.5 by 53 cm)

Catalogue Note

Matisse famously did several drawings and paintings on related themes such as the tabacco cannister depicted in this work. However, the artist believed that his drawings were equally important expressions of his artistic idea. This drawing shows the strength of Matisse's draftmanship and emphasizes the lyrical flow of the line and its importance to the overall visual impact of the composition.

This composition from the 1940s shows the influence of foreign culture, with its inclusion of objects from the Far East and Africa. The model in this picture wears a floral kimono, and an Ashanti stool supports the "Tabac Royal" flower pot. The aesthetic of the Orient was a dominant feature in many of Matisse's best compositions, with its most notable manifestation being the seductive odalesque. By the time he completed this drawing in 1940, the odalesque of North Africa had become so common in the artist's compositions that this cultural reference to this arts of other cultures is a notable and interesting variation.