Henri Matisse
Two Negresses
1907
Scroll
Henri Matisse
Two Negresses
1907
Physical Qualities
Bronze, 18 3/8 x 9 3/4 x 8 in. (46.7 x 24.8 x 20.3 cm.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.430
Originally titled Two Negresses, the composition for this sculpture was based on a photograph of two young Tuareg women (photo) published in the pseudo-ethnographic journal “L’Humanité Féminine.” Matisse may have been attracted to this particular image for what he would have seen as the striking sensuality of the young women, but at this time he was also interested in the challenge of using photographs as inspiration for his sculpture. The pose in this bronze is extremely faithful to the original, but Matisse has given the bodies more weight, enhancing the sense of monumentality.
See Text Entries for image used on label
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore, by purchase from the artist, 1931.
Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris
Matisse: Painter as Sculptor
Cone Refresh
Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore
Matisse, Life in Color: Masterworks From The Baltimore Museum of Art
Inspiration Matisse
Cone Wing Rotations 2020
Cone Wing Rotations 2021
A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore
Cone Wing Rotations 2022
Cone Wing Rotations 2023
Matisse and the Sea
Cone Wing Rotations 2024
Cone Wing Rotations 2025
G. Poulain, 'Sculptures de Henri Matisse,' "Formes," No. IX, Nov. 1930, p. 10.
Etta Cone, "The Cone Collection of Baltimore, Maryland" (Baltimore: 1934) plate. # 120b.
'Cone Bequest,' "BMA News," Oct. 1949, no. 117.
Alfred H. Barr, Jr., "Matisse: His Art and His Public," (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1951) 138-41, 179, ill p. 366.
"Handbook of the Cone Collection," (Baltimore: BMA, 1955) 45, no. 152.
"Handbook of the Cone Collection, Revised Edition," (Baltimore: BMA, 1967) 50, no. 141.
Albert Elsen, 'The Sculpture of Matisse, Part III: Primitivism, Partial Figures and Portraits,' "Art Forum," 7: 3, 1968 ill. p. 26.
Albert Elsen, "The Sculpture of Matisse," (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1972) 83-87.
Alicia Legg, "The Sculpture of Matisse," (New York: MOMA, 1972) 23.
Gowing, Lawrence. Matisse. Revised ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979, page 80, fig. 61 (published as “Les deux négresses (The Two Negresses)”).
William Rubin, ed, "Primitivism in 20th Century Art," (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1984) vol. I, 226.
Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, "The Sculpture of Henri Matisse," (London: The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1984) cat. # 28a.
Jack Flam, "Matisse The Man and His Art 1869-1918," (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1986) 236-38, 241.
Hugh Honour, "The Image of the Black in Western Art," (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989) 235, 290.
Ernst-Gerhard Güse, "Henri Matisse: Drawings and Sculpture" (Munich: Prestel, 1991) cat. # 111.
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 116-117, no. 61.
Jack Flam, "Matisse in The Cone Collection The Poetics of Vision," (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2001), pl. 12, p. 45, ill.
Kosinski, Dorothy, Jay McKean Fisher, and Steven Nash. Matisse: Painter as Sculptor. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art; Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art: Nasher Sculpture Center; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007, page 84, fig. 82, (published as “Two Negresses”).
Karen Levitov, "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore," New York: The Jewish Museum, 2011, pp. 54, 76, pl. 31, ill.
Brown, Kathryn. Henri Matisse. London: Reaktion Books, 2021, p. 65, 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 65.
Hauser and Wirth. "Amy Sherald: The World We Make." London: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2022. ill., p. 123.
Claude Duthuit and Wanda de Guébriant, "Henri Matisse: Catalgoue raisonné de l'oeuvre sculpté," Paris, Claude Duthuit (publisher), 1997, p. 94, cat. #36 (edition 4).
Inscribed: "Henri Matisse /10" cast through. "HM 4/10" much crisper on top of base.
Markings: "Cire C. Valsuani Perdue"
On View at the BMA
