Picture "Nu assis dans un fauteuil, une jambe repliée" (1922)
Picture "Nu assis dans un fauteuil, une jambe repliée" (1922)
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limited, 50 copies | numbered | signed | lithograph on Simili Japan | framed | size 79 x 59 cm
Detailed description
Picture "Nu assis dans un fauteuil, une jambe repliée" (1922)
A seated nude with one leg bent - the title of the lithograph by Henri Matisse from 1922 is descriptive and anonymous. A nude depiction serves the function of capturing both the physiological appearance and the individuality of a person or a particular atmosphere. In this case, it is noticeable that the purely physical appearance of the model is executed without much detail. The person who posed for the artist is depicted as a less differentiated figure.
Just before his death, Matisse wrote: "Still, I believe the essential expression of a work depends almost entirely on the artist's feeling being projected into the work, according to his relationship with the model, not by its organic accuracy." Despite the lack of details, Matisse is able to imbue the work with a particular situation and mood. It is clear that the person is resting their face and has slightly closed eyes, while still holding their body in the tension of the model’s pose. The reality of modelling, which seemed obsolete in the era of photography, is captured here as the subject, and the artist’s relationship with the model is portrayed without conventional constraints.
Lithograph, 1922, edition of 50 + 10 A.P. copies on Simili Japan, numbered and signed. Catalogue raisonné Duthuit 420. Motif size 38.8 x 24.8 cm. Sheet size 43.9 x 28 cm. Size in frame 79 x 59 cm, as shown.
Producer: ARTES Kunsthandelsgesellschaft mbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hannover, Deutschland E-Mail: info@kunsthaus-artes.de
About Henri Matisse
1869-1954
The co-founder of Fauvism is today considered one of the most important painters of the 20th century.
Matisse was born on New Year's Eve 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France. He only discovered his artistic talent late in life. After studying law, Matisse worked in a law firm. His mother brought him art supplies during a period of convalescence following an attack of appendicitis, which forced him to stay in bed. And this is how he started to paint. He decided to give up on working in the law firm and began to study in Gustave Moreau's free painting class.
Initially, he orientated himself towards the Impressionists and studied Cézanne. Through Pointillism, which he became acquainted with through Paul Signac, he finally adopted a more two-dimensional brushstroke and started to use strong colours. The scandalous exhibition of 1905 at the Salon d'Automne in Paris, which Matisse took part in together with Derain, Vlaminck and others, gave these "wild animals" the name "Fauves".
Subsequently, Matisse increasingly dispensed with spatial illusion and concentrated particularly on primary colours and black. Ornamental patterns reflect his experiences with Islamic art, which he encountered on his trips to Morocco in 1911/12.
Movement and music are the themes that fascinated him repeatedly. Thus, the painting "Dance" from 1909/10 and the mural of the same name from 1930-33 are among his most important major works.
In the 1930s, Matisse discovered "papiers découpés" (eng.: papercutting), the art of paper designs, which prepared his later work as a stage and costume designer.
Before his death on 3 November 1954, he was able to complete his late work, the decoration of the Notre Dame du Rosaire chapel in Vence.
The field of graphic arts, that includes artistic representations, which are reproduced by various printing techniques.
Printmaking techniques include woodcuts, copperplate engraving, etching, lithography, serigraphy, among others.