Acquired circa 1970s

Very good condition. Hinged with Japan paper at top corners. Small repaired tear along top edge. The sheet is clean and the ink is bold and fresh.
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The years 1941-42 were a particularly active period for Matisse, as he worked from his bed recovering from two operations.  Matisse made a large group of drawings in pen and ink, crayon and pencil which were published in 1943 as the portfolio, Dessins: Thèmes et Variations, to which the present drawing closely relates.  The portfolio contained 158 drawings, divided into 17 sequences of themes, each containing 3 to 19 variations.  The sequences developed the themes which preoccupied Matisse throughout his creative life: the female figure and the still-life.

The title Matisse chose for the portfolio indicated both the purpose and the process of executing the drawings.  Each theme undergoes several variations, providing the artist with an opportunity to make the composition either more concise or more elaborate.  The Thèmes et Variations were considered by Matisse to be of great importance in his oeuvre, and he donated several to museums in Bordeaux, Grenoble, Montpellier and Saint-Etienne (see: John Elderfield, The Drawings of Henri Matisse, London, 1984, pp. 275, 279).

Matisse often spoke of how the act of drawing was integral to his approach to oil painting, but it is important to realize that his compositions in pen and ink are complete works in their own right.  Ernst Gerhard Güse writes, "There is nothing provisional about his drawings: they are complete, finished works, resulting from an extended process of identification.  The line which encircles the objects supplied a final, conclusive definition.  Through the connection between the line and the artist's emotions, and his inner life, the drawing becomes an act of assimilation, taking possession of nature" (Matisse, Drawings and Sculpture, Munich, 1991, p. 10).

Fig. 1 Matisse in the Villa 'Le Rêve,' Vence, 1946