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Lot Essay
Nature morte aux fleurs is closely related to a series of still-lifes that Matisse painted in 1924 and 1925, including an oil painting that was awarded the first prize at the Carnegie International Exhibition in 1927 (Nature morte, bouquet et compotier, 1924; Dauberville 639).
Matisse executed the present work in his third-floor apartment at 1, place Charles Félix, his principal residence between 1921 and 1928, whereupon he moved to a larger suite on the fourth floor of the same building. Placed on a low table, the space surrounding the still-life is relatively shallow, and at the rear, he has placed a screen which is draped with a decorative pattern in the related oil paintings. Matisse began to use charcoal in the early 1920s, primarily to portraiture. He used various techniques to rub and shade the charcoal surface, creating a soft play of light and shadow ranging from subtle gradations to sharp contrasts. In his article Notes d'un peinture sur son dessin, published in 1939, Matisse described the advantages of this medium, which allowed him to "consider...the quality of surrounding light, atmosphere and all that can only be expressed by drawing (quoted in J. Elderfield, The Sculpture and Drawings of Henri Matisse, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1984, p. 84).
Matisse executed the present work in his third-floor apartment at 1, place Charles Félix, his principal residence between 1921 and 1928, whereupon he moved to a larger suite on the fourth floor of the same building. Placed on a low table, the space surrounding the still-life is relatively shallow, and at the rear, he has placed a screen which is draped with a decorative pattern in the related oil paintings. Matisse began to use charcoal in the early 1920s, primarily to portraiture. He used various techniques to rub and shade the charcoal surface, creating a soft play of light and shadow ranging from subtle gradations to sharp contrasts. In his article Notes d'un peinture sur son dessin, published in 1939, Matisse described the advantages of this medium, which allowed him to "consider...the quality of surrounding light, atmosphere and all that can only be expressed by drawing (quoted in J. Elderfield, The Sculpture and Drawings of Henri Matisse, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1984, p. 84).