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拍品专文
Portrait de Princesse Galitzine emerged during a period of extensive study and preparation which went into Henri Matisse’s monumental decorative panel Le Chant. The panel was commissioned by Nelson A. Rockefeller for his Fifth Avenue apartment to flank the fireplace at one end of his grand living room—across the room, a similarly monumental panel by Fernand Léger surrounded another imposing fireplace. The final overmantel painting depicts four female figures interacting in pairs, and the present work is undoubtedly a study for the figure at the top left, languorously reclining as she listens to the musicians below.
Matisse began his work on the project in the autumn of 1938, soon after moving into his new apartment and studio in the Hôtel Regina in Nice. From the onset of the project, the artist was meticulous in his planning and execution. The conception of the final composition involved the preparation of a string of studies of female figures lounging in various poses, with every line, shade, and detail painstakingly considered. The figures were based on two of Matisse’s favored models—Russian émigrés Lydia Delectorskaya and Hélène Galitzine-Mercier. Hélène, with her dark curls and striking oval face, intrigued the artist and served as an ideal muse for his work. She had fled her country following the revolution and travelled with her mother and sister across Europe before settling in the south of France, where she supported her family by working as a seamstress. Lydia introduced her friend to the artist in 1935, and soon after she began to pose for Matisse, appearing in several of his celebrated works from the period, often under the guise of an odalisque or dressed in ornate blouses.
Matisse’s bold charcoal studies for Le Chant demonstrate the artist’s unrivaled ability as a prolific draftsman. Prior to 1935, drawing was relegated to a subsidiary role in Matisse’s oeuvre, treated as a means to resolving compositional challenges encountered while working on larger canvases. In the mid-1930s, however, drawing assumed a vital role, and Matisse became convinced of its importance in shifting his painterly aesthetic. Renowned for his deft handling of pen and ink, from 1937 Matisse increasingly embraced charcoal, employing an estompe (thick paper stick used to blend strokes) to render and shade contours and to evoke volumetric forms. In his 1939 treatise Notes d’un peintre sur son dessin, Matisse elucidates its importance: “Charcoal or stump drawing…enables me to consider simultaneously the character of the model, the human expression, the quality of surrounding light, atmosphere and all that can only be expressed by drawing. And only when I feel drained by the effort, which may go on for several sessions, can I with a clear mind and without hesitation, give free rein to my pen.”
Charcoal became Matisse’s preferred tool, and the versatility of the medium lent him a graphic freedom in preparing for compositions such as Le Chant. Across the group of studies, Matisse explored a series of poses for the seated figure, allowing Hélène to fluidly shift and settle into each position, capturing the lithe contours of her form as she relaxes into her chair. He had no qualms erasing details to create a refined finish work, and as a result, the final image appears to materialize from a haze of pentimenti, the paper bearing traces of erased and reworked lines and revealing the gradual evolution of the final drawing. Here, Matisse has depicted her as she languidly leans against the side of square high-backed armchair, her arm draped across its top. With a content, dreamy gaze, she exudes an easy glamor, and the overall effect is one of intimacy and serenity.
Matisse began his work on the project in the autumn of 1938, soon after moving into his new apartment and studio in the Hôtel Regina in Nice. From the onset of the project, the artist was meticulous in his planning and execution. The conception of the final composition involved the preparation of a string of studies of female figures lounging in various poses, with every line, shade, and detail painstakingly considered. The figures were based on two of Matisse’s favored models—Russian émigrés Lydia Delectorskaya and Hélène Galitzine-Mercier. Hélène, with her dark curls and striking oval face, intrigued the artist and served as an ideal muse for his work. She had fled her country following the revolution and travelled with her mother and sister across Europe before settling in the south of France, where she supported her family by working as a seamstress. Lydia introduced her friend to the artist in 1935, and soon after she began to pose for Matisse, appearing in several of his celebrated works from the period, often under the guise of an odalisque or dressed in ornate blouses.
Matisse’s bold charcoal studies for Le Chant demonstrate the artist’s unrivaled ability as a prolific draftsman. Prior to 1935, drawing was relegated to a subsidiary role in Matisse’s oeuvre, treated as a means to resolving compositional challenges encountered while working on larger canvases. In the mid-1930s, however, drawing assumed a vital role, and Matisse became convinced of its importance in shifting his painterly aesthetic. Renowned for his deft handling of pen and ink, from 1937 Matisse increasingly embraced charcoal, employing an estompe (thick paper stick used to blend strokes) to render and shade contours and to evoke volumetric forms. In his 1939 treatise Notes d’un peintre sur son dessin, Matisse elucidates its importance: “Charcoal or stump drawing…enables me to consider simultaneously the character of the model, the human expression, the quality of surrounding light, atmosphere and all that can only be expressed by drawing. And only when I feel drained by the effort, which may go on for several sessions, can I with a clear mind and without hesitation, give free rein to my pen.”
Charcoal became Matisse’s preferred tool, and the versatility of the medium lent him a graphic freedom in preparing for compositions such as Le Chant. Across the group of studies, Matisse explored a series of poses for the seated figure, allowing Hélène to fluidly shift and settle into each position, capturing the lithe contours of her form as she relaxes into her chair. He had no qualms erasing details to create a refined finish work, and as a result, the final image appears to materialize from a haze of pentimenti, the paper bearing traces of erased and reworked lines and revealing the gradual evolution of the final drawing. Here, Matisse has depicted her as she languidly leans against the side of square high-backed armchair, her arm draped across its top. With a content, dreamy gaze, she exudes an easy glamor, and the overall effect is one of intimacy and serenity.