- 110
Henri Matisse
Description
- Henri Matisse
- Nu couché à la chemise
- inscribed HM, numbered 6/10 and stamped with the foundry mark C. Valsuani Cire Perdue
- bronze
- length: 30.6cm., 12in.
Provenance
Estate of Dr Eugene A. Solow (acquired from the above in 1958)
Phyllis Hattis Fine Arts, New York
Sale: Christie's, New York, 1st May 1996, lot 292
Private Collection, United States (sale: Sotheby's, New York, 11th November 1999, lot 296)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
Literature
Henri Matisse, dessins et sculpture (exhibition catalogue), Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1975, no. 178, illustration of another cast
Michael P. Mazzatesta, Henri Matisse: Sculptor/Painter: A Formal Analysis of Selected Works, 1984, fig. 33 illustration of another cast p. 62
Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, The Sculpture of Henri Matisse, London, 1984, no. 16, illustration of another cast
Matisse (exhibition catalogue), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1989, no. 118, illustration of another cast
Ernst-Gerhard Guse (ed.), Henri Matisse: Drawings and Sculpture, Munich, 1991, no. 113, illustration of another cast
Henri Matisse: A retrospective (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992, no. 75, illustration of another cast
Claude Duthuit, Henri Matisse. Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre sculpté, Paris, 1997, no. 19, illustration of another cast p. 43
Matisse, Painter as Sculptor (exhibition catalogue), The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 2007-08, illustration of another cast p. 133
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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Over the summer of 1906, Matisse became close friends with Aristide Maillol, and the influence of Maillol’s interest in classical themes is visible in the present work. The reclining female figure, swathed in drapery, owes much to Hellenistic sculpture, and in particular is reminiscent of the Sleeping Ariadne, the most famous example of which sits in the Museo Pio-Clementino at the Vatican in Rome, with versions also held by the Louvre and in the gardens of Versailles. Nu couché à la chemise evokes together both classical influences and the French artistic tradition of the odalisque, and while the floating folds of her shirt mask much of the detail of her body, it slips from her shoulders with an almost careless eroticism, while her pose, with her left leg pulled up high across her right, thrusts the curve of her hip into prominent relief.
However, in the execution of his Nu couché, Matisse overturned the conventions of both classical sculpture and the smooth sensuality of the odalisque for his own very distinctive expressive ends, and the coarse modelling of this figure has a rough primitivism which emphasises the properties unique to sculpture which appealed so strongly to the artist: its volume, its weight and the very physical manipulation of its genesis. This work features the iconic reclining pose which appeared in so many of the artist’s most celebrated paintings, amongst them Luxe, calme et volupté (1904-05), Bonheur de vivre (1905-06) and the monumental Blue Nude, Souvenir of Biskra (1907).
Three of the eleven casts of this work are now held in public collections: in the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington and the Musée Matisse in Pontoise.