“I believe study by means of drawing is most essential. If drawing is of the Spirit and color of the Sense, you must draw first, to cultivate the spirit and be able to lead color into spiritual paths... A colorist makes his presence known even in a simple line drawing.”
—Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse’s Nu assis ou femme au collier, 1937, showcases a masterful command of line and form. Using the thin line to mirror the rhythm of the woman’s figure, nude except for a string of pearls around her neck, the artist uses the delicate contour against the starkness of the blank page to emphasize the intricate curves of his model, Lydia Delectorskaya. Part of an oeuvre spanning paintings, cutouts and sculpture, Matisse’s line drawings reflect an effortlessness that is a continuation of his profound experimentation with media.
Part of a series of studio nudes of Delectorskaya in various poses, Matisse’s 1936 and 1937 drawings were largely concerned with the simplicity of the female figure. As noted by the artist “my models, human figures, are never just ‘extras’ in an interior. They are the principal theme in my work. I depend entirely on my model, whom I observe at liberty, and then I decide on the pose which best suits her nature. When I take a new model, I intuit the pose that will best suit her from her un-self-conscious attitudes of repose, and then I become the slave of that pose.”i Returning to the depiction of Lydia numerous times throughout his practice, Matisse infused each of his portraits with a unique engagement of both the aesthetic form of Delectorskaya’s figure and her personality—the combination of which cements him as one of the foremost portraitists of the 20th century.
“My line drawing is the purest and most direct translation of my emotion. The simplification of the medium allows that.”
—Henri MatisseBest known for his use of vibrant and imaginative color, Matisse sought to unite color and line throughout his practice, placing drawing and painting on the same level and noting that “a true colorist makes his presence known even in a simple charcoal drawing.”ii Rather than hiding behind color in the present work, Matisse relies on his confidence in the unshaded line, which stands out against the stark white page. It is the whiteness of the sheet which “determines forms and spatial relations,” emphasizing the emotion and individuality of the sitter.iii Hinting at depth with the figure’s playful positioning and subtle differences in the thickness of line, Nu assis ou femme au collier reflects an engagement with drawing that is unique to the artist’s practice.
i Henri Matisse, quoted in Ernst Gerhard Guse, Henri Matisse, Drawings and Sculpture, Munich, 1991, p. 22.
ii Henri Matisse, in a letter to Henry Clifford, February 1948.
iii Raoul-Jean Moulin, Henri Matisse: Drawings and Paper Cut-outs, New York, 1969, p. 26.
Provenance
Estate of the Artist Galerie Beyeler, Basel Schlumberger Collection (acquired from the above in April 1996) Sotheby's, New York, November 4, 2014, lot 42 Jeremy Wiltshire Fine Art, London Acquired from the above by the present owner in June 2016
The leading figure of the Fauvist movement at the turn of the 20th century, Henri Matisse is widely regarded as the giant of modern art alongside friend and rival Pablo Picasso. Working as a painter, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor for over five decades, he radically challenged traditional conventions in art by experimenting with vivid colors, flat shapes and distilled line. Rather than modeling or shading to lend volume to his pictures, the French artist employed contrasting areas of unmodulated color. Heavily influenced by the art and visual culture of non-Western cultures, his subjects ranged from nudes, dancers, odalisques, still lifes and interior scenes and later evolved into the graphic semi-abstractions of his cut-outs of his late career.