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Lot Essay
Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Discussing the design of his New York apartment (fig. 1), the prestigious collector and patron of the arts, Nelson A. Rockefeller, wrote that his architect, Wallace K. Harrison, "designed two fireplaces in the living room with space for two great murals around them, and our friends Henri Matisse and Fernand Léger accepted commissions to undertake the murals. Matisse did the mural in Paris from full-scale drawings of the fireplace" (in The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art, London, 1982, p. 16). Drawn in Nice in 1938, this magnificent drawing is a preliminary study for the Matisse Rockefeller mural and provides an exciting insight into Matisse's working methods.
During the determination of the final design for the mural, ultimately titled La poésie, the compositional structure remained fairly consistent. The present work divulges a skeleton of the later, colorful composition. We can see the emphasis on the sweeping, curvaceous contours of the two standing women, and the compacted, more geometric figures of the two women seated at their feet.
The title La poésie ("poetry") is essential for the reading of the mural, where the right figure rests her head dreamily, listening to the woman at right reading to her. In the present work, however, any purported narrative is overshadowed by the sheer luxury of line, the mystery of these four beautiful maidens intertwined in an oval composition that moves the eye endlessly. These vacant faces appear alert and attentive to any potential input, welcoming our interest and imagination. Here we witness Matisse's order of priority: though the painting was at one stage titled Le chant and finally titled La poésie, it could truly have been either. The subject proves incidental to the arrangement of these women, the robust arc of the right woman's skirt, the langorous cradle of the left woman's arms, and the dynamism of the group's interconnected gazes towards each other and outwards towards the viewer. In the grace and fullness of this drawing, we glimpse the essence of the mural, and enjoy a richly finished piece.
(Figs. 2-5) Stages of Le Chant, 1938.
Discussing the design of his New York apartment (fig. 1), the prestigious collector and patron of the arts, Nelson A. Rockefeller, wrote that his architect, Wallace K. Harrison, "designed two fireplaces in the living room with space for two great murals around them, and our friends Henri Matisse and Fernand Léger accepted commissions to undertake the murals. Matisse did the mural in Paris from full-scale drawings of the fireplace" (in The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art, London, 1982, p. 16). Drawn in Nice in 1938, this magnificent drawing is a preliminary study for the Matisse Rockefeller mural and provides an exciting insight into Matisse's working methods.
During the determination of the final design for the mural, ultimately titled La poésie, the compositional structure remained fairly consistent. The present work divulges a skeleton of the later, colorful composition. We can see the emphasis on the sweeping, curvaceous contours of the two standing women, and the compacted, more geometric figures of the two women seated at their feet.
The title La poésie ("poetry") is essential for the reading of the mural, where the right figure rests her head dreamily, listening to the woman at right reading to her. In the present work, however, any purported narrative is overshadowed by the sheer luxury of line, the mystery of these four beautiful maidens intertwined in an oval composition that moves the eye endlessly. These vacant faces appear alert and attentive to any potential input, welcoming our interest and imagination. Here we witness Matisse's order of priority: though the painting was at one stage titled Le chant and finally titled La poésie, it could truly have been either. The subject proves incidental to the arrangement of these women, the robust arc of the right woman's skirt, the langorous cradle of the left woman's arms, and the dynamism of the group's interconnected gazes towards each other and outwards towards the viewer. In the grace and fullness of this drawing, we glimpse the essence of the mural, and enjoy a richly finished piece.
(Figs. 2-5) Stages of Le Chant, 1938.