拍品專文
Early in 1941 Matisse endured an operation for duodenal cancer. He often found it too painful to stand and prefered to work from bed or a wheelchair. Consequently, he painted less and devoted more time to graphic work. After the series of Vence interiors in 1946, he devoted himself almost exclusively to his cut-outs.
Femme au chapeau bleu unifies elements that span Matisse's entire oeuvre. The vertical bands of black, green and slate which comprise the fireplace in the right background echo the startling abstract Porte-fenêtre à Collioure (Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris) of 1914, while the frankly unsympathetic demeanor of the sitter and the way her clasped hands and arms describe a square within the center of the picture plane is remarkably akin to La tocque de goura (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford) of his early Nice period. Although many elements are simplified in anticipation of the bold planar outlines of the découpages, the voluminous proportions of the model's dress and the bell-like shape of the entire figure are very similar to La grande robe bleue et mimosas (Philadelphia Museum of Art).
As he progressed towards the total abstraction of his mature work, Matisse vastly increased his focus of juxtaposing blocks of strong color and reduced his attention to detail, although Femme au chapeau rouge still contains all the elements of a classic Matisse interior: patterned wallpaper, his own paintings in the background, strongly articulated vertical and horizontal movement tempered by the curves of the partially unclothed model.
The success of the composition and color in Femme au chapeau bleu arrest our concentration on the model who is at one and the same time real and not real:
One of the most mysterious things about Matisse, I
mean one of those mysteries to which the painter
himself draws attention, is that dual attitude towards
the model: on the one hand he cannot do without the
model, and on the other the model inspires something
so detached from itself.... The dark girl who becomes,
in one particular painting, a mature redhead, and, in
one of his drawings, herself in twenty years' time.
You will find ten interpretations of the same Arab
tapestry hanging here by the window, bearing witness
to the painter's faithfulness and unfaithfulness.
(L. Aragon, "Henri Matisse, Themes et Variations",
Matisse: A Retrospective, New York, 1988, p. 342)
That the artist himself justifiably prized this powerful work is evidenced by the record we have of it in the company of his other personal favorites gracing the wall of his home at Vence (circa 1945) where he is seated, reading (fig. 1).
(fig. 1) Matisse reading in his studio at the villa Le Rêve,
Vence, circa 1945
Femme au chapeau bleu unifies elements that span Matisse's entire oeuvre. The vertical bands of black, green and slate which comprise the fireplace in the right background echo the startling abstract Porte-fenêtre à Collioure (Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris) of 1914, while the frankly unsympathetic demeanor of the sitter and the way her clasped hands and arms describe a square within the center of the picture plane is remarkably akin to La tocque de goura (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford) of his early Nice period. Although many elements are simplified in anticipation of the bold planar outlines of the découpages, the voluminous proportions of the model's dress and the bell-like shape of the entire figure are very similar to La grande robe bleue et mimosas (Philadelphia Museum of Art).
As he progressed towards the total abstraction of his mature work, Matisse vastly increased his focus of juxtaposing blocks of strong color and reduced his attention to detail, although Femme au chapeau rouge still contains all the elements of a classic Matisse interior: patterned wallpaper, his own paintings in the background, strongly articulated vertical and horizontal movement tempered by the curves of the partially unclothed model.
The success of the composition and color in Femme au chapeau bleu arrest our concentration on the model who is at one and the same time real and not real:
One of the most mysterious things about Matisse, I
mean one of those mysteries to which the painter
himself draws attention, is that dual attitude towards
the model: on the one hand he cannot do without the
model, and on the other the model inspires something
so detached from itself.... The dark girl who becomes,
in one particular painting, a mature redhead, and, in
one of his drawings, herself in twenty years' time.
You will find ten interpretations of the same Arab
tapestry hanging here by the window, bearing witness
to the painter's faithfulness and unfaithfulness.
(L. Aragon, "Henri Matisse, Themes et Variations",
Matisse: A Retrospective, New York, 1988, p. 342)
That the artist himself justifiably prized this powerful work is evidenced by the record we have of it in the company of his other personal favorites gracing the wall of his home at Vence (circa 1945) where he is seated, reading (fig. 1).
(fig. 1) Matisse reading in his studio at the villa Le Rêve,
Vence, circa 1945