La Danse

Details

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
La Danse
signed and numbered '17/50' in pencil
etching and aquatint in colors on Arches wove paper
Image size: 9 ¼ x 29 ¼ in. (235 x 743 mm.)
Sheet size: 11 7/8 x 31 ¾ in. (302 x 805 mm.)
Executed in 1935-1936; this impression is number 17 from the edition of 50

Provenance

Main Street Galleries, Chicago.
Francey and Dr. Martin L. Gecht, Chicago (acquired from the above); sale, Christie's, New York, 3 May 2006, lot 145.
Acquired at the above sale by Achim Moeller Fine Art on behalf of John C. Whitehead.

Literature

M. Duthuit-Matisse and C. Duthuit, Henri Matisse, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre gravé, Paris, 1983, vol. 1, p. 190-191, no. 247 (another impression illustrated).

Exhibited

The Art Institute of Chicago, Graphic Modernism, Selections from the Francey and Dr. Martin L. Gecht Collection, November 2003-January 2004, p. 104, no. 87 (illustrated in color).

Brought to you by

Morgan Schoonhoven

mschoonhoven@christies.com 212-636-2050

Lot Essay

The color etching, La Danse, was based on the gouache maquette of the first scheme for the Barnes Mural intended for Merion, Pennsylvania. Due to a misunderstanding, this version of the mural was never installed and was found rolled in the artist's studio in the 1980s. The scheme relates back to the Bonheur de Vivre of 1905–1906 which is also in the Barnes Foundation. Matisse included six figures in La Danse, which he later increased to eight in the completed mural.

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