.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Before the First World War, Matisse's self-portraits remained a largely private and intermittent activity as experiments and explorations of the artist capturing his own demeanor. As a result, few were ever exhibited in the public arena. In the 1920s, however, Matisse began utilizing the self-portrait as a strategy of self-promotion, his memorable image with spectacles appearing on the covers of periodicals and gallery exhibition catalogues. He would render likenesses of himself throughout his prolific career as a means to express his individuality and self-image as an artist.
By the time the present work was drawn in 1945, the Second World War had taken a toll on the aging artist. Over the course of the war he had retreated from his studio in Nice to safer ground in the Vence countryside, his health had deteriorated, and his wife and daughter had been arrested for their participation in the resistance. Throughout these uncertain times, the artist found much solace in his work and rarely did his subject or style allude to the turmoil surrounding him. The present work is an excellent example of how the artist was able to channel his whimsy and humor onto the page. With his perfectly mastered economy of the crayon line, Matisse has created a self-portrait that is expressive yet exudes the playful mood he would inhabit from time to time. An almost identical self-portrait is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Speaking of that work and other self-portraits like it from 1945, John Klein has commented that the artist’s depicted mood “seems to vary from expectant watchfulness to plain silliness as he proposes diverse personages, much as he had done about 1900. Three or four different hats, a pipe, a scarf knotted casually around his neck, and various drawing instruments are his props in these little performances of himself. They are among the most light-hearted works of his career; but in another way they have a serious implication” (J. Klein, Matisse Portraits, New Haven, 2001, p. 213).
Before the First World War, Matisse's self-portraits remained a largely private and intermittent activity as experiments and explorations of the artist capturing his own demeanor. As a result, few were ever exhibited in the public arena. In the 1920s, however, Matisse began utilizing the self-portrait as a strategy of self-promotion, his memorable image with spectacles appearing on the covers of periodicals and gallery exhibition catalogues. He would render likenesses of himself throughout his prolific career as a means to express his individuality and self-image as an artist.
By the time the present work was drawn in 1945, the Second World War had taken a toll on the aging artist. Over the course of the war he had retreated from his studio in Nice to safer ground in the Vence countryside, his health had deteriorated, and his wife and daughter had been arrested for their participation in the resistance. Throughout these uncertain times, the artist found much solace in his work and rarely did his subject or style allude to the turmoil surrounding him. The present work is an excellent example of how the artist was able to channel his whimsy and humor onto the page. With his perfectly mastered economy of the crayon line, Matisse has created a self-portrait that is expressive yet exudes the playful mood he would inhabit from time to time. An almost identical self-portrait is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Speaking of that work and other self-portraits like it from 1945, John Klein has commented that the artist’s depicted mood “seems to vary from expectant watchfulness to plain silliness as he proposes diverse personages, much as he had done about 1900. Three or four different hats, a pipe, a scarf knotted casually around his neck, and various drawing instruments are his props in these little performances of himself. They are among the most light-hearted works of his career; but in another way they have a serious implication” (J. Klein, Matisse Portraits, New Haven, 2001, p. 213).