Henri Matisse and Henri Matisse, Presentation Maquette, Poésies de Stéphane Mallarmé
Study for “Le Tombeau d’Edgar Poe”
1930-1931
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Study for “Le Tombeau d’Edgar Poe”
1930-1931
Physical Qualities
Graphite with erasing on paper, Sheet: 317 x 238 mm. (12 1/2 x 9 3/8 in.)
Mat: 20" x 16"
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.12.902
By the time Henri Matisse drew this detailed portrait of Poe, the American writer had been dead for 80 years, so the French artist must have relied on an earlier image, most likely a print or daguerreotype. The graceful outline of Poe’s head and a second sketch of his characteristic facial features, both drawn in the lower right of the sheet, reveal Matisse’s process of refinement as he moved through his working method to the published version of this image.
Purchased by Etta Cone from Marie Harriman gallery, Dec 1932
Haunting Visions of Poe: Illustrations by Manet, Matisse & Gauguin
Edgar Allan Poe: A Baltimore Icon
Picturing Poe: Illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe's Stories and Poems
A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore
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 93.
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 left in graphite: "E.A. Poe / Henri - Matisse"
Markings: Chopmark: MALLARME ET MATISSE
