Provenance

Vie des Arts Est.

Explore Selected Works

Two cut pieces of royal-blue paper are affixed to a cream-white background in this vertical composition. The blue paper is cut so that the center between the two sheets creates an abstracted female form with a neck, shoulders, a breast to each side, a waist, and curving hips. The blue paper on our right spans the height of the composition and the left piece is shorter, stopping at what would be the hip. The blue is painted in horizontal strokes so streaks are visible. The artist signed the work with his initials near the lower right corner, “HM.”
Henri Matisse, Venus, 1952, gouache on paper, cut and pasted on white paper, mounted on paper panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1973.18.2

Venus

Henri Matisse · 1952 · gouache on paper, cut and pasted on white paper, mounted on paper panel ·  Accession ID  1973.18.2

Two columns of brightly colored rectangles are layered with geometric shapes and organic forms in this abstract, vertical artwork. The rectangles are painted, and the abstract shapes are cut from pieces of painted paper. The left column is stacked top to bottom with rectangles in black, lime green, sage green, sunshine yellow, watermelon pink, and amethyst purple. There is also a pink triangle above the pink rectangle, near the middle of the column. Spanning different sections of the column are a blue spiral and a curling blue line, white petal-like shapes, and purple and blue stylized leaves, perhaps seaweed, and triangles. A narrow black form like the profile of a stylized fish and a curve radiating spikes float in the middle of the column. The rectangles of the right column are silvery gray, goldenrod yellow, bright green, lime green, sunshine yellow, and sapphire blue. The column is layered with two more black spiky shapes, a short vertical royal-blue curving line, and an elongated, white U shape. A long, black S-shape floats over the top four rectangles, and a pumpkin-orange spiral lies on top of a sapphire-blue circle near the yellow rectangle at the bottom. That yellow rectangle has blue rectangle at its center and a darker yellow rectangle to the left. There is a white wavy line up the blue area, a black wavy line to each side in the yellow, and one black heart-shape near the each of the lower corners of the blue field. Higher up, the lime-green rectangle in each column also has a smaller, darker green rectangle painted within. The work is set against a flat, parchment-brown background. The artist wrote the title in black cursive letters across bottom, “les betes de la mer...” and signed and dated the lower right, “H. Matisse 50.”
Henri Matisse, Beasts of the Sea, 1950, gouache on paper, cut and pasted on white paper, mounted on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1973.18.1

Beasts of the Sea

Henri Matisse · 1950 · gouache on paper, cut and pasted on white paper, mounted on canvas ·  Accession ID  1973.18.1