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拍品专文
Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work and noted that the signature has been enhanced.
While Matisse began utilizing the self-portrait early on in his career as a strategy of self-promotion--his memorable image appearing on the covers of periodicals and gallery exhibition catalogues--he would render likenesses of himself throughout his career as a means to express his individuality and image of himself as an artist. Painted circa 1916, Autoportrait reveals Matisse's confidence and identity as the contemplative and intellectual artist. The emphasis is on his iconic round glasses, arched and questioning eyebrows, and gruff facial hair, which creates a mask for his mouth.
With events of the First World War weighing heavily on his mind, Matisse painted very little during the early months of 1915. When he resumed, he painted some still-lifes, and in 1916 embarked on a series of remarkably austere, almost schematic compositions, with in predominantly black and gray tones, such as Les Morocaines (The Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Baigneuses au bords de la rivière (The Art Institute of Chicago). These works appeared to mark the very boundaries of what was possible with the figure. In a 1919 interview with Swedish art historian Ragnar Hoppe, Matisse stated, "Yes, you see, when you achieve what you want in a certain area, when you have exploited the possibilities that lie in one direction, you must, when the time comes, change course, search for something new" (quoted in J. Flam, Matisse on Art, Berkeley, 1995, p. 75).
The delicacy of the present self-portrait contrasts with the more schematic approach Matisse employed in his paintings at this time. Jack Flam observes "By the fall of 1916 Matisse began increasingly to work at his Quai Saint-Michel studio and, as was often the case, the change in place was accompanied by a change in subject matter. His return to portraiture at a time when he was creating some of his most abstract works is a typically Matissian paradox. Portraiture forced him to pay attention to the specific at the same time that he was working with the abstract and general, and allowed him to investigate the pictorial possibilities that the large imagined paintings had suggested to him--to test them so to speak--in relation to his perceptual experiences" (Matisse, The Man and his Art, London, 1986, p. 434).
(fig. 1) The artist seated in front of a wall hung with drawings from his series Thèmes et Variations, May 1942. Photograph by André Ostier. Artwork: 2012 Succession of H. Matisse Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Contact: ARS, André Ostier
While Matisse began utilizing the self-portrait early on in his career as a strategy of self-promotion--his memorable image appearing on the covers of periodicals and gallery exhibition catalogues--he would render likenesses of himself throughout his career as a means to express his individuality and image of himself as an artist. Painted circa 1916, Autoportrait reveals Matisse's confidence and identity as the contemplative and intellectual artist. The emphasis is on his iconic round glasses, arched and questioning eyebrows, and gruff facial hair, which creates a mask for his mouth.
With events of the First World War weighing heavily on his mind, Matisse painted very little during the early months of 1915. When he resumed, he painted some still-lifes, and in 1916 embarked on a series of remarkably austere, almost schematic compositions, with in predominantly black and gray tones, such as Les Morocaines (The Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Baigneuses au bords de la rivière (The Art Institute of Chicago). These works appeared to mark the very boundaries of what was possible with the figure. In a 1919 interview with Swedish art historian Ragnar Hoppe, Matisse stated, "Yes, you see, when you achieve what you want in a certain area, when you have exploited the possibilities that lie in one direction, you must, when the time comes, change course, search for something new" (quoted in J. Flam, Matisse on Art, Berkeley, 1995, p. 75).
The delicacy of the present self-portrait contrasts with the more schematic approach Matisse employed in his paintings at this time. Jack Flam observes "By the fall of 1916 Matisse began increasingly to work at his Quai Saint-Michel studio and, as was often the case, the change in place was accompanied by a change in subject matter. His return to portraiture at a time when he was creating some of his most abstract works is a typically Matissian paradox. Portraiture forced him to pay attention to the specific at the same time that he was working with the abstract and general, and allowed him to investigate the pictorial possibilities that the large imagined paintings had suggested to him--to test them so to speak--in relation to his perceptual experiences" (Matisse, The Man and his Art, London, 1986, p. 434).
(fig. 1) The artist seated in front of a wall hung with drawings from his series Thèmes et Variations, May 1942. Photograph by André Ostier. Artwork: 2012 Succession of H. Matisse Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Contact: ARS, André Ostier