Charles Cox, Nice
Galerie Schmit, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1979

Lucerne, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Henri Matisse, 1949, no. 133, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Galerie Schmit, Maîtres Francais, XIX-XX Siècles, 1979, no. 103, illustrated in the catalogue

Executed on white wove paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount in the top two corners, floating in the mount. There are artist's pinholes to all four corners. There are four small paper infills, one towards the centre of the lower edge, two to the upper left quadrant and another in the upper right quadrant. Apart from some minor surface dirt and slight foxing to the sheet, this work is in good condition.
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A beautiful rendition of a subject that inspired Matisse's greatest creations, Jeune Femme au fauteuil portrays the sensuous female figure, executed at the height of the artist's career. Matisse's works of the late 1930⭕s and early 1940s are largely devoted to this subjജect, often showing the model posed in an armchair such as in the present work.

Following the publication of the much-lauded series Dessins: Thèmes et Variations in 1943, Matisse continued to explore the expressive power of♒ line drawing. Inspired in large part by his fascination with Islamic Art, the works on paper from this period are characterised by an elegant and graceful simplicity.

Matisse often spoke of how the act of drawing was integral to his approach to oil painting and exploring a subject. As Ernst Gerhard Güse explained, 'through the connection between the line and the artist's emotions, his inner life, the drawing becomes an act of assimilation, taking possession of nature' (Ernst Gerhard Güse, Matisse, Drawings and Sculpture, Munich, 1991, p. 10). The confident yet languorous pose of Matisse's model in the present work is typical of the artist's muses, their gazes directed unfalteringly towards the viewer reflecting an air of self-assurance. Attired elegantly, the whole effect of Jeune Femme au fauteuil is one of profound confidence, both in terms of the💛 sitter's own assurance of pose and in the artist's mastery of his medium and subject.

356L10005_COMP
Henri Matisse, L'idole (Monique, fond rouge et bleu), 1942, oil on canvas