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Lot Essay
Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Matisse's depictions of odalisques in fantastical, lavish settings are celebrated for their attention to sumptuous detail and decoration, rich and ornate patterning and--most importantly--the languorous and sensual nude or semi-clothed model as odalisque. In his paintings of odalisques, Matisse employed vibrant, shimmering colors to bring his ornate textiles and exotic props to life. In his drawings, the absence of color focuses the viewer on the elaborate detail, complex patterning and stark intensity of shading and pure line on paper.
In the early 1920s, Matisse frequently executed the odalisque works on paper in charcoal or pencil, employing heavy shading and cross-hatching to express a sculptural sense of volume in his models and scenery. Toward the late 1920s, Matisse gravitated back to pen and ink which allowed him to experiment with a freedom and simplicity of pure line, infusing his drawings with a lighter and more lyrical quality. John Elderfield observed, "In the second half of the 1920s, Matisse's drawings would seem to throw off their wistful moods to become as relaxed and hedonistic as most of his paintings were. This was accompanied and made possible by a shift from tonal charcoal drawing to line. Compared to the ink drawings of the early 1920s, the new ink drawings tend, by and large, to eschew shading. Line alone gives weight to figures and participates in the ornamentation provided by the similarly arabesque treatment of the setting. The sheet is often filled out right to the edges to form a single patterned unit within which the identities of the figures are obscured" (in The Drawings of Henri Matisse, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1984, p. 91).
In the fall of 1926, Matisse, now permanently located in Nice, moved from a rather cramped third floor apartment to more spacious quarters on the top floor at 1, Places Charles Félix. His new apartment included two vast studios which the artist could decorate for his pictorial purposes. These studios, bathed in sunlight, boasted panoramic views of the charming town and the mountains beyond, grand balconies, green baseboards and decorative wall tiling and marble trompe l'oeil--which all were eagerly accepted into Matisse's repertoire. Most of the works from this period depict the odalisque amidst props of decorative screens, a samovar, a rococo table and a Turkish chair, which can be seen in the present work.
In Nue allongée dans un intérieur Matisse has filled the sheet with rich patterning and endless detail. The odalisque's penetrating gaze draws the viewer into the exotic scene, ordering the eye to travel from her outstretched, slightly-twisted form, along the decorative pillows and wall patterning, toward the rococo table and the elaborate samovar. Extremely similar renderings of this mise-en-scène can be found in many of his great paintings from the period (fig. 1). Elizabeth Cowling observes, "In painting [and drawing] his make-believe harem scenes--nothing could be less authentic than the heteroclite mix of fabrics, costumes, furniture and bric-à-brac--Matisse sought to personalise and modernise the hackneyed Orientalist subjects which has first come into vogue during the Romantic period. Delacroix's sumptuous Women of Algiers was of paramount importance to this enterprise and in the sum total of the Nice odalisque paintings numerous echoes of it can be heard..." (in Matisse Picasso, exh. cat., Tate Modern, London, 2002, p. 221).
(fig. 1) Henri Matisse, Reclining Odalisque, 1926. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Matisse's depictions of odalisques in fantastical, lavish settings are celebrated for their attention to sumptuous detail and decoration, rich and ornate patterning and--most importantly--the languorous and sensual nude or semi-clothed model as odalisque. In his paintings of odalisques, Matisse employed vibrant, shimmering colors to bring his ornate textiles and exotic props to life. In his drawings, the absence of color focuses the viewer on the elaborate detail, complex patterning and stark intensity of shading and pure line on paper.
In the early 1920s, Matisse frequently executed the odalisque works on paper in charcoal or pencil, employing heavy shading and cross-hatching to express a sculptural sense of volume in his models and scenery. Toward the late 1920s, Matisse gravitated back to pen and ink which allowed him to experiment with a freedom and simplicity of pure line, infusing his drawings with a lighter and more lyrical quality. John Elderfield observed, "In the second half of the 1920s, Matisse's drawings would seem to throw off their wistful moods to become as relaxed and hedonistic as most of his paintings were. This was accompanied and made possible by a shift from tonal charcoal drawing to line. Compared to the ink drawings of the early 1920s, the new ink drawings tend, by and large, to eschew shading. Line alone gives weight to figures and participates in the ornamentation provided by the similarly arabesque treatment of the setting. The sheet is often filled out right to the edges to form a single patterned unit within which the identities of the figures are obscured" (in The Drawings of Henri Matisse, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1984, p. 91).
In the fall of 1926, Matisse, now permanently located in Nice, moved from a rather cramped third floor apartment to more spacious quarters on the top floor at 1, Places Charles Félix. His new apartment included two vast studios which the artist could decorate for his pictorial purposes. These studios, bathed in sunlight, boasted panoramic views of the charming town and the mountains beyond, grand balconies, green baseboards and decorative wall tiling and marble trompe l'oeil--which all were eagerly accepted into Matisse's repertoire. Most of the works from this period depict the odalisque amidst props of decorative screens, a samovar, a rococo table and a Turkish chair, which can be seen in the present work.
In Nue allongée dans un intérieur Matisse has filled the sheet with rich patterning and endless detail. The odalisque's penetrating gaze draws the viewer into the exotic scene, ordering the eye to travel from her outstretched, slightly-twisted form, along the decorative pillows and wall patterning, toward the rococo table and the elaborate samovar. Extremely similar renderings of this mise-en-scène can be found in many of his great paintings from the period (fig. 1). Elizabeth Cowling observes, "In painting [and drawing] his make-believe harem scenes--nothing could be less authentic than the heteroclite mix of fabrics, costumes, furniture and bric-à-brac--Matisse sought to personalise and modernise the hackneyed Orientalist subjects which has first come into vogue during the Romantic period. Delacroix's sumptuous Women of Algiers was of paramount importance to this enterprise and in the sum total of the Nice odalisque paintings numerous echoes of it can be heard..." (in Matisse Picasso, exh. cat., Tate Modern, London, 2002, p. 221).
(fig. 1) Henri Matisse, Reclining Odalisque, 1926. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.