"My line drawing is the purest and most direct translation of my emotion." —Henri MatisseMatisse famously stated that he wished to “absorb the lessons of the masters and then having done so to 'forget' those lessons in order to arrive at a means of personal expression.” i Part of the artist’s celebrated series of Odalisques executed in the 1920s, Jeune fille assise demonstrates Matisse’s ability to render the traditional wholly modern. Executed in 1928, the present work notably features a cut-out collage and as such is an early precursor of Matisse's acclaimed series of cut-outs from the 1940s.
The Odalisque appeared throughout the 19th century art, most notably in works by Eugène Delacroix and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. In his own exploration of the subject, Matisse did not seek to imitate his predecessors; rather, as Elizabeth Cowling explains, "in painting his make-believe harem scenes – nothing could be less authentic than the heteroclite mix of fabrics, costumes, furniture and bric-a-brac – Matisse sought to personalise and modernise the hackneyed Orientalist subjects which has first come into vogue during the Romantic period.” ii
"My models, human figures, 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 suits her nature." —Henri Matisse
Like many of his Odalisques, Jeune fille assise depicts a figure in lavish repose rendered through Matisse's remarkable economy of line. Subverting the traditional hierarchy in art, Matisse emphasized the importance of drawing within his oeuvre stating “my line drawing is the purest and most direct translation of my emotion. The simplification of the medium allows that. At the same time, these drawings are more complete than they may appear to some people who confuse them with a sketch.” iii
There is also an immediacy present as the figure's placement at the front of the picture plane, divorced from traditional perspective, creates a sense of intimacy between Matisse’s model and the viewer. Matisse achieved this effect in the present work by innovatively using collage, eliminating all context but the essential element of the figure in her chair. The artist would again return to this method in his later celebrated series of cut-outs which he undertook beginning in the late 1940s.