Young Girl Seated (La Biche)
Artist/Maker
Henri Matisse
(French, 1869–1954)
Date1936
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 24 1/8 × 19 15/16 in. (61.2 × 50.6 cm)
Frame: 35 3/4 × 31 3/16 × 4 in. (90.8 × 79.2 × 10.2 cm)
Frame: 35 3/4 × 31 3/16 × 4 in. (90.8 × 79.2 × 10.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Joseph and Enid Bissett
Object number1959.120
Status
Not on viewHenri Matisse was one of the most versatile and important artists of the early twentieth century. He worked as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, draughtsman, and designer, and is known as one of the instigators of the Fauvist movement. From late 1917 on, he worked in and around Nice, creating works celebrated for their bright colors and decorative patterning.
Matisse's interest in the expressive qualities of both line and color appears forcefully in this painting of Lydia Delectorskaya -a Russian refugee, the nurse of Matisse's wife, and the artist's muse and model from 1935 to 1939. The reddish brown ground at lower left and center, and the yellow, green, and blue colors along with the white ground under the sitter's face, hair, and neck show the work to be incomplete. However, Matisse signed and dated it in 1936, indicating that, at least by some measure, he considered it finished.
The work was painted in Matisse's home and studio in Nice on place Charles- Félix, and, in a book of reminiscences by the model, was titled Bodice on a "Tahiti" Background. Matisse had traveled in Oceania in 1930-31 and brought back memories of its colors, plants, and flowers. In a number of works made in 1935 and 1936, the artist alludes to the colors he associated with that trip-bright reds, fuchsias, greens, yellows, and blues. A photograph of the work-in-process indicates that Matisse made numerous changes before considering the work complete; the model's head was once further to the right, her face was changed from a long oval to a more rounded form, and her hand was once positioned closer to her shoulder (the pentimento of this is visible in the work). Her piercing expression was added after the photograph was taken.
ProvenanceMr and Mrs. Joseph Bissett, New York; by gift 1959 to Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH
Exhibition History
Matisse's interest in the expressive qualities of both line and color appears forcefully in this painting of Lydia Delectorskaya -a Russian refugee, the nurse of Matisse's wife, and the artist's muse and model from 1935 to 1939. The reddish brown ground at lower left and center, and the yellow, green, and blue colors along with the white ground under the sitter's face, hair, and neck show the work to be incomplete. However, Matisse signed and dated it in 1936, indicating that, at least by some measure, he considered it finished.
The work was painted in Matisse's home and studio in Nice on place Charles- Félix, and, in a book of reminiscences by the model, was titled Bodice on a "Tahiti" Background. Matisse had traveled in Oceania in 1930-31 and brought back memories of its colors, plants, and flowers. In a number of works made in 1935 and 1936, the artist alludes to the colors he associated with that trip-bright reds, fuchsias, greens, yellows, and blues. A photograph of the work-in-process indicates that Matisse made numerous changes before considering the work complete; the model's head was once further to the right, her face was changed from a long oval to a more rounded form, and her hand was once positioned closer to her shoulder (the pentimento of this is visible in the work). Her piercing expression was added after the photograph was taken.
Modern Masters from the Permanent Collection
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (December 8, 1985 - March 23, 1986 )
From Turner to Picasso: Masterworks from the Collection
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (May 27, 1988 - September 18, 1988 )
American Responses to European Modernism, 1875-1925
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (November 4, 1995 - February 19, 1996 )
Collecting the Vanguard: Art from 1900 to 1970
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 17, 2001 - June 2, 2002 )
Figure to Non-Figurative: The Evolution of Modern Art in Europe and North America, 1830-1950
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 23, 2002 - June 9, 2003 )
Matisse - Menschen, Masken, Modelle
- Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany (September 27, 2008 - January 11, 2009 )
- Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg (January 31, 2009 - April 19, 2009 )
Lydia D., muse et modèle de Matisse
- Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambresis (February 27, 2010 - May 30, 2010 )
- Musée Matisse, Nice (June 18, 2010 - September 27, 2010 )
Modern and Contemporary Realisms
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 6, 2013 - June 22, 2014 )
Maidenform to Modernism: The Bissett Collection
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 15, 2017 - May 27, 2018 )
Matisse in the 1930s
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (October 20, 2022 - January 29, 2023 )
- Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris (February 27, 2023 - May 29, 2023 )
- Musée Matisse, Nice (June 23, 2023 - September 24, 2023 )
Collections
- Modern & Contemporary
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17th century
1845
first half 19th century