Henri Matisse
Reclining Nude I (Aurore)
1906
Scroll
Henri Matisse
Reclining Nude I (Aurore)
1906
Physical Qualities
Bronze, 13 9/16 x 19 5/8 x 11 in. (34.4 x 49.9 x 27.9 cm.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.429
In early 1907, Matisse began to work on Reclining Nude I (Aurore), an experimental sculpture that marked a crucial point in his career. All the sculptures he had produced up to this time had been done from a model. With this bronze, however, he worked from memory and imagination, pursuing a new interpretation of the familiar subject of a reclining woman with one leg drawn up and one arm raised behind her head. After Matisse had worked on the composition for several weeks, it was nearly destroyed when it fell to the floor of his studio. Although he eventually finished the sculpture, he decided first to explore the same motif in a large painting, producing one of his most famous works, Blue Nude. Throughout his career, Matisse moved easily between media, solving problems in his paintings by working back and forth in clay, charcoal, or ink.
In Reclining Nude I (Aurora), Matisse reimagined the reclining nymph motif of Reclining Figure with Chemise as a torqued and powerful form, dramatically enhancing its scale and expressive power. The figure’s physique is muscular and Olympian, reminiscent of the oversized anatomies of Michelangelo’s figures for the Medici tomb, which Matisse had seen in Florence. As in many of his most ambitious sculptures, Matisse extends the figure over the edges of the base, as if the base could no longer contain its assertive inhabitant.
In this sculpture, Matisse’s analysis of the human figure unfolds in a sequence of discoveries as one circulates around the sculpture. Each angle reveals a new view of the interlocking shapes that define the form. These multiple compositional solutions are harmoniously integrated but still diverse and even surprising.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; from Etta Cone, Baltimore, by purchase 1930; from the artist (see notes).
"A Century of Baltimore Collecting 1840-1940", Baltimore Museum of Art, June 6-September 1, 1941.
"Matisse Sculpture", Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, February 10-March 2, 1953.
"The Cone Collection", M. Knoedler & Co., New York, January 24-February 19, 1955.
Fine Arts Associated, Inc., New York, November 25-December 13, 1958.
"Henri Matisse Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture", Philadelphia Museum of Art, April 13-May 9, 1948.
"Henri Matisse Retrospective", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 5-June 30, 1966; circulated to Art Institute, Chicago and UCLA.
Wildenstein & Company, New York, "Cone Collection from The Baltimore Museum of Art", March 27-May 11, 1974.
Brenda Richardson, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, "Matisse in The Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", August 24-October 14, 1979.
"A Taste of Maryland", Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, May 17-August 28, 1984.
"The Spirit of Appreciation: Masterpieces from the Cone Collection", BMA produced, circulated to Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 6-November 24, 1985; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, December 14-February 9, 1986.
"Matisse, Picasso and Impressionist Masters from the Cone Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, October 1991-January 19, 1992.
"Van Gogh to Matisse: Impressionist and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection, The Baltimore Museum of Art", Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 21, 1993-January 30, 1994.
"Matisse and Modern Masters from The Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, October 3-December 28, 1996; Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, January 8-February 11, 1997.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Denver Art Museum, "Matisse from The Baltimore Museum of Art", March 11-June 25, 2000; circulated to the Birmingham Museum of Art, July 23-September 17, 2000; The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, October 10, 2000-January 28, 2001.
Dorothy Kosinski, Jay McKean Fisher, Steven Nash; BMA, Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, "Matisse: Painter as Sculptor", Dallas, January 21-April 29, 2007; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 9-September 16, 2007; The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 28, 2007-February 3, 2008, shown BMA only, no. 45.
Percy North, BMA, "Max Weber: Bringing Paris to New York", March 3-June 30 2013.
Gail Stavitsky, et. al., Matisse and American Art, The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, N.J., February 4-June 18, 2017.
"Matisse Sculpture", Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, February 10-March 2, 1953.
"The Cone Collection", M. Knoedler & Co., New York, January 24-February 19, 1955.
Fine Arts Associated, Inc., New York, November 25-December 13, 1958.
"Henri Matisse Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture", Philadelphia Museum of Art, April 13-May 9, 1948.
"Henri Matisse Retrospective", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 5-June 30, 1966; circulated to Art Institute, Chicago and UCLA.
Wildenstein & Company, New York, "Cone Collection from The Baltimore Museum of Art", March 27-May 11, 1974.
Brenda Richardson, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, "Matisse in The Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", August 24-October 14, 1979.
"A Taste of Maryland", Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, May 17-August 28, 1984.
"The Spirit of Appreciation: Masterpieces from the Cone Collection", BMA produced, circulated to Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 6-November 24, 1985; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, December 14-February 9, 1986.
"Matisse, Picasso and Impressionist Masters from the Cone Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, October 1991-January 19, 1992.
"Van Gogh to Matisse: Impressionist and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection, The Baltimore Museum of Art", Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 21, 1993-January 30, 1994.
"Matisse and Modern Masters from The Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, October 3-December 28, 1996; Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, January 8-February 11, 1997.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Denver Art Museum, "Matisse from The Baltimore Museum of Art", March 11-June 25, 2000; circulated to the Birmingham Museum of Art, July 23-September 17, 2000; The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, October 10, 2000-January 28, 2001.
Dorothy Kosinski, Jay McKean Fisher, Steven Nash; BMA, Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, "Matisse: Painter as Sculptor", Dallas, January 21-April 29, 2007; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 9-September 16, 2007; The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 28, 2007-February 3, 2008, shown BMA only, no. 45.
Percy North, BMA, "Max Weber: Bringing Paris to New York", March 3-June 30 2013.
Gail Stavitsky, et. al., Matisse and American Art, The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, N.J., February 4-June 18, 2017.
Christian Zervos, "Sculptures des Peintre D'Aujourd'hui," (Paris: Caheirs D'Art, 1928) 279, no. 7.
Etta Cone, "The Cone Collection of Baltimore, Maryland" (Baltimore: 1934) plate. # 120a.
Aragon, Louis, Henry Clifford, and Henri Matisse. Henri Matisse: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture. Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1948, no. 101, ill. (Published as "Reclining Figure")
'Cone Bequest,' "BMA News," Oct. 1949, no. 116.
'Cone Memorial Issue,' "BMA News," Jan.-Feb. 1950, p. 16.
Alfred H. Barr, Jr., "Matisse: His Art and His Public," (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1951) 94, 100, 140, 179, 205, 217-18, 337.
"Handbook of the Cone Collection," (Baltimore: BMA, 1955) 45, no. 149.
Gertrude Rosenthal, 'Matisse Reclining Figures,' "BMA News," Feb. 1956, p. 10-15.
Hilton Kramer, 'Matisse as a Sculptor,' Boston: "Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts," 1966, Vol. LXIV, no. 336, p. 54, ill. 48.
Leymarie, Jean, Herbert Read and William S. Lieberman. Henri Matisse. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966, no. 109, ill. (published as "Reclining Nude I").
Herbert Read, "Art and Alienation: The Role of the Artist in Society," (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967) 117-18, 171.
"Henri Matisse", "Spike Art Quaterly", New Art Club: Germany, 2015, p. 83.
"Handbook of the Cone Collection, Revised Edition," (Baltimore: BMA, 1967) 46, no. 138.
Albert Elsen, 'The Sculpture of Matisse,' "Art Forum," vol. VII, #2, Oct. 1968, p. 22.
Albert Elsen, "The Sculpture of Matisse," (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1972) 72.
Alicia Legg, "The Sculpture of Matisse," (New York: MOMA, 1972) 19.
Lambert, Susan. Matisse Lithographs. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, [1972], page 8 (published as “Nu couché, I”).
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed., Matisse: 20 March - 17 May, 1981, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo: 26 May - 19 July, 1981, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1981, pp. 126, 220-221, no. 86 (published as "Reclining Nude I").
Mannering, Douglas. The Art of Matisse. London: Optimum Books, 1982, page 31 (published as “Reclining Figure I”).
Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, "The Sculpture of Henri Matisse," (London: The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1984) cat. # 24.
The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland, 1830-1934. [Baltimore, MD]: [Walters Art Gallery], 1984, plate 85, page 49.
Jack Flam, "Matisse The Man and His Art 1869-1918," (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1986) 191-97.
Herrera, Hayden. Matisse: A Portrait. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1993, page 69.
Jack Flam, "Matisse in The Cone Collection The Poetics of Vision," (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2001), pl. 11, p. 39, ill., and fig. 4, p. 43, ill.
H. W. Janson, "History of Art," (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995) 816.
Elderfield, John. Pleasuring Painting: Matisse's Feminine Representations. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 29, no. 19 (published as “Reclining Nude (I)”), ill.
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, pages 114-115, no. 60.
Flam, Jack. Matisse in Transition: Around Laurette. West Palm Beach, FL: Norton Museum of Art, 2006, page 20.
Dorothy Kosinski, Jay McKean Fisher, Steven Nash, "Matisse: Painter as Sculptor," (Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 2007) cat. no. 45, p. 269, ill. pp. 153, 155, 156.
Jay McKean Fisher, "Matisse as Printmaker: Works from the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation," American Federation of Arts, 2009, p. 47, fig. 5, ill.
David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Editors, "The Image of the Black in Western Art, The Twentieth Century: The Impact of Africa, Part I," (Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press), fig. 77, p. 103, ill.
Fillion, Susan. Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel: Bringing Matisse to America. Boston: David R. Godine, 2011, page 28.
Segre Guilbaut (ed), "Chatting with Henri Matisse: The Lost 1941 Interview", Los Angelas: The Getty Research Institute, 2013, p. 162.
Ellen McBreen, "Matisse's Sculpture, The Pinup and the Primitive", Conneticut: Yale University Press, 2014, pp. 53, ill. 46.
Stavitsky, Gail, John Cauman, William C. Agee, et al. Matisse and American Art. Montclair, NJ: Montclair Art Museum, 2017, page 96.
Fisher, Jay McKean. Matisse grabador/printmaker. Madrid: La Fábrica, 2019.
Kunsthakus Zürich, ed. Matisse: Metamorphoses. Zürich, Switzerland: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2019, pp. 77
Brown, Kathryn. Henri Matisse. London: Reaktion Books, 2021, p. 58, ill.
Kunsthakus Zürich, ed. Matisse: Metamorphoses. Zürich, Switzerland: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2019, pp. 77, ill.
Cozzi, Leslie and Katherine Rothkopf (eds). "A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2021. ill.
Brown, Kathryn. Henri Matisse. London: Reaktion Books, 2021, page 58.
Inscribed: "Henri Matisse" on back of base.
Markings: "Cire - C. Valsuani - perdue" and "6/10" on backof base.
On View at the BMA
