Henri Matisse
Etta Cone (I/VI)
1933-1934
Scroll
Henri Matisse
Etta Cone (I/VI)
1933-1934
Physical Qualities
Black fabricated chalk on paper, Sheet: 527 × 406 mm. (20 3/4 × 16 in.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.12.63
After Claribel Cone’s death in 1929, her sister commissioned Matisse to execute a memorial portrait of her late sister. He decided to depict Etta as well, and described her as having the “majesty of a Queen of Israel but with less obvious beauty, smooth hair and yet falling in beautiful lines likes those of her face, but with a touching depth of expression, always submissive to her glorious sister, yet attentive to everything.”
By contrast, Claribel was “of a great noble and glorious beauty, beautiful hair falling in ample waves in the old-fashioned way, satisfied and domineering.” Upon completion, Matisse gave Cone four drawings of her sister and six of herself.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore; likely gift of the artist, 1934
"Matisse and Modern Masters from The Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 3 October - 28 December, 1996; Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 8 January - 11 February, 1997.
Katy Rothkopf and Leslie Cozzi, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Modern Influence: Henry Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore," October 3, 2021 - January 2, 2022.
Katy Rothkopf and Leslie Cozzi, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Modern Influence: Henry Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore," October 3, 2021 - January 2, 2022.
Cone, Etta. The Cone Collection of Baltimore, Maryland: Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. [Baltimore, MD]: [Etta Cone], 1934, plate 96a
Russell, John. The World of Matisse, 1869-1954. New York: Time-Life Books, [1969], ill. p. 84.
Senzoku, Nobuyuki, ed. Matisse and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art = Kon korekushon ten. [Tokyo]: "Kon Korekushon" Ten Katarogu Iinkai, 1996, page 106, no. 52.
O’Brian, John. Ruthless Hedonism: The American Reception of Matisse. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999, p. 84.
Cozzi, Leslie and Katherine Rothkopf (eds). "A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2021. ill.
Inscribed: lower right in graphite: "Henri Matisse"
Markings: WM: Arches
