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The Three Models

Henri Matisse

The Three Models

1928

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Henri Matisse

The Three Models

1928

Physical Qualities Crayon transfer lithograph, Sheet: 549 x 816 mm. (21 5/8 x 32 1/8 in.)
Credit Line The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number 1950.12.209
Produced at the same time as the nearby painting Seated Odalisque, Left Knee Bent, Ornamental Background and Checkerboard, the female figure at left (presumably the same model, Zita) poses with two other women in a sensual scene that suggests a harem. In this print, Matisse pared down many of the details to a few essential marks. Zita is dressed in clothing similar to the velvet jacket and harem pants seen in the painting, while a nude model poses to her right with her arms around her bent legs. The head of a third figure peeks out behind Zita at left. Matisse used an abundance of patterning to energize the quiet scene, with all three figures surrounded by swirls and marks that only seem to amplify their scant clothing and intertwined limbs.
Jay Fisher, American Federation of the Arts, "Matisse as Printmaker," The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 25, 2009 - January 3, 2010; circulating to The Tampa Museum of Art, January 29, 2010 - April 10, 2010.

"Matisse: Masterworks from The Baltimore Museum of Art," exhibition circulated to: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 11 October 2013 - 12 January 2014 (NB title variation, IMA only - Matisse, Life in Color: Masterworks from The Baltimore Museum of Art); Minneapolis Institute of Art, 23 February - 18 May 2014; San Antonio Museum of Art, 15 June - 7 September 2014.

Katherine Rothkopf and Frances Klapthor, The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists, The Baltimore Museum of Art, June 2, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025.
Bois, Yve-Alain, ed. Matisse in the Barnes Foundation, vol. 1. Philadelphia: Barnes Foundation, 2015, p. 100, fig. 8.

Inscribed: lower right in graphite: "Henri Matisse / 24/50"; by later hand, lower right verso in graphite: "pl 109"

Artist

Henri Matisse

French, 1869-1954

Meet Henri Matisse

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