Fleur dans un vase (Thème J, Variation 3)

Details

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Fleur dans un vase (Thème J, Variation 3)
signed, dated and numbered 'Henri Matisse 42 J3' (lower right) and signed with initials and dedicated 'en hommage à Madame Agnès Widlund, HM. avril 1952' (lower left)
pen and India ink on paper
24 ¾ x 19 ¾ in. (63 x 50 cm.)
Drawn in 1942

Provenance

Agnès Widlund, Stockholm (acquired from the artist, April 1952).
Walter Ahrenberg, Blonay, Switzerland (by 1959).
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 1 July 1987, lot 539.
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco.
Acquired from the above by the present owner, October 1987.

Literature

L. Aragon, ed., Henri Matisse: Dessins, thèmes et variations, Paris, 1943 (illustrated).

Exhibited

Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Henri Matisse, Apollon: utställning anordnad i samarbete med Medicinska Föreningen, September 1957 (illustrated prior to dedication).
Kunsthaus Zürich, Henri Matisse: Das plastische Werk, July-August 1959, p. 32, no. 82.
Darmstadt, Internationale der Zeichnung, 1970, no. 49 (illustrated).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Monet to Matisse: French Art in Southern California Collections, June-August 1991, p. 127 (illustrated in color; dated 1952).

Brought to you by

Vanessa Fusco

vfusco@christies.com +1 212 636 2094

Lot Essay

Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

In the early 1940s, while recovering from an operation, Matisse produced many drawings, unable to paint in front of an easel. In 1943, 170 of these drawings were published in Louis Aragon's Henri Matisse: Dessins, thèmes et variations. The drawings were classified by theme, which were grouped by letter ranging from A to P. Within each theme, Matisse developed the subject in three to nineteen variations. The present drawing is variation 3 from theme J.

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