Henri Matisse

Jean Matisse, France (the artist's son)

Galerie Lumley Cazalet, London (acquired by 1981)

Galerie Beyeler, Basel 

Jan Krugier, Geneva (acquired from the above in June 1984)

Sotheby's, London, 5 February 2014, lot 17 (consigned by the above)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Nudes - Nus - Nackte, 1984, no. 43, illustrated in the catalogue

Andros, Fondation Basil & Elise Goulandris, Henri Matisse, 1988, illustrated in the catalogue, p. 25

Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Linie, Licht und Schatten. Meisterzeichnungen und Skulpturen der Sammlung Jan und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 1999, no. 144, illustrated in the catalogue, p. 305

Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, The Timeless Eye, Master Drawings from the Jan and Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski Collection, 1999, no. 174, illustrated in the catalogue p. 363

Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Miradas sin Tiempo. Dibujos, Pinturas y Esculturas de la Coleccion Jan y Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowksi, 2000, no. 159, illustrated in the catalogue, p. 351

Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, La Passion du dessin. Collection Jan et Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2002, no. 148, illustrated in the catalogue

Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Matisse/Picasso, 2002-03, no. 112, illustrated in the catalogue

Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Matisse 1917-1941, 2009, no. 54, illustrated in the catalogue, p. 143

Verve, vol. III, Paris, October-December 1938, illustrated np.

Lydia Delectorskaya, ...l'apparente facilité... Henri Matisse, Peintures de 1935-1939, Paris, 1986, illustrated p. 171

Exh. Cat. Vienna, Albertina, Goya bis Picasso. Meisterwerke der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Anne-Marie Krugier-Poniatowski, 2005

Henri Matisse regarded charcoal drawing as an essential means of appropriating his subject in order to achieve effective compositions that convey the life and sensuality of the model. This approach allows him to simultaneously capture light, volume and the model’s expression, privileging rhythm and sensation over a purely anatomical description.

The use of estompe is one of the major characteristics of his drawing: it allows him to diffuse movement and light, giving his nudes great subtlety, a softness and an immediately recognizable character. The lines of the body, both restrained and graceful, as well as the model’s curves, are shaped by blended charcoal, which introduces a sensuality and dynamic intrinsic to the composition. More than a simple representation, Matisse expresses here a feeling, giving the female figure its vitality and movement.

As he himself wrote in Notes d’un peintre sur son dessin (1939): “the drawings [in ink] are always preceded by studies made in a medium less rigorous than the pure line, such as charcoal or drawing with a stump, which allows me to consider simultaneously the character of the model, its human expression, the quality of the surrounding light, the atmosphere and everything that can only be expressed by drawing.”