Lot Essay
A certificate from Wanda de Gubriant dated Paris, 15 December 1985 accompanies this watercolor, which is recorded as no. AQ23 in the Henri Matisse archives.
In September 1894, Margurite Emilinne was born to Caroline Joblaud, Matisse's lover and the model for his painting Breton Serving Girl (1896). In 1897 he legally recognized Margurite as his daughter, but ended relations with her mother later that year, shortly before he married Amlie Parayre.
Matisse was a loving father and husband, and, likewise, Margurite was totally devoted to her father. Unlike her more restless brothers Jean and Pierre, Margurite patiently posed again and again for his drawings and paintings. Matisse painted at least two portraits of her in 1906 (colls. Marion Smooke and Muse de Grenoble) and one in 1907 (Muse Picasso, Paris), in which he proclaims her presence in the bold inscription of her name across the upper edge of the canvas.
In the present work, which dates to 1915-1916, Margurite is in her early twenties. Matisse has flattened and simplified her features as he has the flowering border, portraying he face as if it is blossoming among the flowers. The format reflects Matisse's intention to use the work for a poster design, and was influenced by his trip to Morocco in 1912-1913, at which time he saw the complex patterning of Islamic art and rug design. Even before his travels to Northern Africa, Matisse was well-versed in Islamic art. He heeded Gauguin's advice: "O Painters who are looking for a color technique, study rugs. You will find all the necessary knowledge there" (quoted in P. Schneider, "The Moroccan Hinge," Matisse in Morocco, exh. cat., The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,1990, p. 26). The painting The Red Studio of 1911 (coll. The Museum of Modern Art, New York), depicts an unidentified oil of a nude surrounded by similarly-stylized blue and yellow flowers; an intricate watercolor, Intrieur aux aubergines from the same year, again employs these flowers as a "picture frame" border around the composition. By that year, Matisse was already flattening space in the extreme, obscuring the delineation between the two- and three-dimensional. By 1915-1916, when the present work was painted, his art was advancing further towards abstraction.
In September 1894, Margurite Emilinne was born to Caroline Joblaud, Matisse's lover and the model for his painting Breton Serving Girl (1896). In 1897 he legally recognized Margurite as his daughter, but ended relations with her mother later that year, shortly before he married Amlie Parayre.
Matisse was a loving father and husband, and, likewise, Margurite was totally devoted to her father. Unlike her more restless brothers Jean and Pierre, Margurite patiently posed again and again for his drawings and paintings. Matisse painted at least two portraits of her in 1906 (colls. Marion Smooke and Muse de Grenoble) and one in 1907 (Muse Picasso, Paris), in which he proclaims her presence in the bold inscription of her name across the upper edge of the canvas.
In the present work, which dates to 1915-1916, Margurite is in her early twenties. Matisse has flattened and simplified her features as he has the flowering border, portraying he face as if it is blossoming among the flowers. The format reflects Matisse's intention to use the work for a poster design, and was influenced by his trip to Morocco in 1912-1913, at which time he saw the complex patterning of Islamic art and rug design. Even before his travels to Northern Africa, Matisse was well-versed in Islamic art. He heeded Gauguin's advice: "O Painters who are looking for a color technique, study rugs. You will find all the necessary knowledge there" (quoted in P. Schneider, "The Moroccan Hinge," Matisse in Morocco, exh. cat., The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,1990, p. 26). The painting The Red Studio of 1911 (coll. The Museum of Modern Art, New York), depicts an unidentified oil of a nude surrounded by similarly-stylized blue and yellow flowers; an intricate watercolor, Intrieur aux aubergines from the same year, again employs these flowers as a "picture frame" border around the composition. By that year, Matisse was already flattening space in the extreme, obscuring the delineation between the two- and three-dimensional. By 1915-1916, when the present work was painted, his art was advancing further towards abstraction.