While living in Nice, France, in the 1920s, Matisse created imaginative compositions that featured odalisques, female figures wearing costumes inspired by the eastern Mediterranean world. Odalisque with Green Sash is one of the most erotic examples in the BMA’s holdings, as the female model touches her breast while posing. Fratino links his own work to Matisse’s practice: “It’s so simple to translate a Matisse odalisque into the male nude. For me, the curve of the hip, the softness and sensuality that exists in these female nudes can function exactly the same way in the male figure. I try to emphasize that by rounding the forms, revealing the femininity in the masculine body.” Matisse picked out the clothing worn by his models, a detail that Fratino finds amusing: “It’s so funny to think about this buttoned-up man going shopping for these extravagant clothes. There’s something so camp about it...there’s no doubt that he loved textiles and fabrics. When we look at his interiors, it’s clear that he loved theatricality and artifice.”