Henri Matisse

Theodor Ahrenberg, Stockholm (sold: Parke Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, April 14, 1965, lot 17)

Arnold Neustader, New York (acquired at the above sale)

Acquavella Galleries, Inc., Beverly Hills

Nathan and Marion Smooke, California (acquired from the above in 1974 and sold: Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, New York, November 5, 2001, lot  21)

Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Maison de la Pensée Française, Henri Matisse, Chapelle, Peinture, Dessins, Sculptures, 1950, no. 72

Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Henri Matisse, Skulpturer, Malerier, Farveklip, 1953, no. 4

London, Tate Gallery, The Sculpture of Matisse and Three paintings with drawings, 1953, no. 5

Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Henri Matisse, Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings, 1954, no. 4

Oslo, Kunsternes Hus, Henri Matisse, 1954, no. 4

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans, Matisse, 1954, no. 4

Stockholm Nationalmuseum, Henri Matisse, Apollon, 1957, no. 10

Helsinki, Helsingin Taidehalli, Henri Matisse, Apollon, Theodor Ahrenbergin Kokoelema, 1957-58, no. 136

Liège, Musée des Beaux Arts de Liège, Henri Matisse, Apollon, Collection Theodor Ahrenberg, 1958, no. 136

Zürich, Kunsthaus, Henri Matisse, das Plastische Werk, 1959, no. 7

Gothenburg, Konsthallen Gotaplatsen, Henri Matisse, Ur Theodor Ahrenbergs, Samling, 1960, no. 164

Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Henri Matisse, Sculptor/Painter: A Formal Analysis of Selected Works, 1984, no. 4, illustrated in the catalogue

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Degas to Picasso: Modern Masters from the Smooke Collection, 1987, illustrated in the catalogue

Henri Matisse Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture (exhibition catalogue), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1948, no. 95, illustration of another cast p. 42

Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Matisse, His Art and His Public, New York, 1951, p. 52

Henri Matisse, Exposition du Centenaire (exhibition catalogue), Grand Palais, Paris, 1970, no. 231b, illustration of another cast p. 277

Albert E. Elsen, The Sculpture of Henri Matisse, New York, 1972, illustrations of other casts p. 54, figs, 59-60; p. 55, fig. 61

Alicia Legg, The Sculpture of Henri Matisse (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1972, no. 9, illustration of another cast p. 11

Henri Matisse: Sculptures (exhibition catalogue), Musée Matisse, Nice, 1974, no. 7, illustration of another cast

Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, The Sculpture of Henri Matisse, London, 1984, no. 6, illustration of another cast p. 57

Pierre Schneider, Matisse, New York, 1984, pp. 266, 376, 393-395, 550, 556, 562

Claude Duthuit, Henri Matisse. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre sculpté, Paris, 1997, no. 10, illustrations of another cast pp. 21 & 23, this cast listed p. 20

Excellent condition. The bronze displays a uniform dark brown patina that is slightly rubbed on some of the highpoints revealing a golden color below. These highpoints include the stomach, proper-right buttock and hip, shoulder blades, proper-left elbow, front of coiffure and several areas on the rock. No scratches or abrasions were observed on the bronze. The sculpture is structurally sound and in excellent 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.

Matisse executed two versions of this sculpture – Madeleine I was produced in 1901, and the artist seems to have made a mould from the original clay model, which would have enabled him to continue working on the clay, resulting in the second version of the sculpture, Madeleine II, completed in 1903.  Compared to its predecessor, Madeleine II displays a rougher, more expressive surface and pose.  The soft, sinuous surface of the earlier version has been replaced by a more modern handing of form, broken down into smaller unites, in a style that almost heralds the Cubist technique.

In Madeleine II, Matisse has retained the overall S-shaped line of the female figure, as well as her contrapposto stance.  As Oliver Shell wrote: '[Matisse] accentuates all of the consequences of the weight-bearing leg, which tilts the figure's pelvis and produces a series of pronounced and subtle counterbalanced bodily shifts.  Although the figure does not technically move, it is animated by an internal spiralling rhythm that Matisse referred to as the arabesque.  Comparing himself to his friend the sculptor Aristide Maillol, Matisse would write, "Maillol, like the Antique masters, proceeds by volume, I am concerned with arabesque like the Renaissance artists."  In linking his own sculptural sources to the Renaissance, Matisse may well have been thinking of Michelangelo's Bound Slave and Dying Slave, works he knew intimately from his daily visits to the Louvre as a student of Gustave Moreau' (O. Shell in Matisse: Painter as Sculptor (exhibition catalogue), The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2007-08, p. 114).

Other casts of this work are now in the collections of the Musée Matisse in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris and Musée Matisse in Nice.