Henri Matisse
Nadia au sourire enjoué
1948
Etching on wove paper 34.5 x 27.8 cm (56 x 38 cm) Signed and numbered. Proof 18/25. - Very faintly browned under the mat in lower margin.
In the context of his work as an artist, Henri Matisse did not begin to develop an interest in printmaking techniques until relatively late. It was only around the turn of the century that he started making provisional attempts at working on the etching plate. In 1903 Matisse published his first etchings; three years later they were joined by lithographs and woodcuts. Unlike Picasso, Matisse understood his work in a new medium not as an expansion of his possibilities for artistic expression but as an extension of motifs that had already been selected and to which he always remained stylistically faithful. It is primarily two groups of themes that can be found in his prints: he concentrated on portraits (of women) and female nudes. By contrast the central motifs of his paintings, such as landscapes, still lifes and interiors, appear only occasionally. In addition to his daughter Marguerite, he created many images of the young Egyptian Nadia, who first posed for him in the summer of 1948 and would thereafter be the subject of numerous portraits in the form of drawings and prints. In this context the present etching, “Nadia au sourire enjoué”, illustrates the intentions which the French artist was pursuing with his portraits. Thus Giesela Westkamp-Fischer speaks of an “intensive balancing act between the demands of a portrait - that is, a precise likeness - and free interpretation - that is, a linear construction reduced to the essential: because for Matisse the true character of a person did not directly coincide with outward appearances, he abstracted the facial features into a kind of symbolic mask with an almost calligraphic effect.” (Gisela Westkamp-Fischer, in: Henri Matisse: Ausgewählte Exponate aus seinem graphischen Oeuvre und Arbeiten auf Papier, Köln 2001, n. p.). The contours of the face are reduced to a minimum but nonetheless selected in such a way that the suggested possibilities have been left to be complemented in the eyes of the beholder.
Catalogue Raisonné
Duthuit-Matisse/Duthuit 792