Henri Matisse
Reclining Figure with Chemise
1905
Scroll
Henri Matisse
Reclining Figure with Chemise
1905
Physical Qualities
Bronze, 5 1/2 x 11 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (14 x 30.2 x 14.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Lion, Jr.
Object Number
1955.164
This sculpture’s animated bronze surface accentuates a series of undulating forms from head to toe. By choosing this pose, Matisse experimented with the curving line of the figure’s body. Over a period of 23 years, he produced four sculptures of reclining female models with one arm raised. Reclining Figure with Chemise is the earliest of the four and is one of only two bronzes of clothed female figures he ever produced. Closely related to Matisse’s interest in Greek and Roman sculpture, this figure appears timeless.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1955; purchased by Mr. & Mrs. Albert Lion, Jr., 24 June 1955; from Curt Valentin Gallery, New York; Galerie Pierre, Paris, May 1930
Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, "Closing Exhibition", June 8, 1955, cat. 131, ill. p. 3.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "If Wishes Could Buy", Octtober 4-November 6, 1955.
MOMA, "The Sculpture of Matisse", February 24-May 8, 1972; (the records are contradictory on whether the piece toured to Pasadena? [should be Minneapolis] and Berkeley).
Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, "Matisse in the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art", 24 August-7 October 1979.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005.
Dorothy Kosinski, Jay McKean Fisher, Steven Nash; BMA, Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, "Matisse: Painter as Sculptor", Dallas, January 21- April 29, 2007; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 9-September 16, 2007; The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 28, 2007-February 3, 2008, cat. no. 30, p. 268, ill. pp. 133, 134.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "If Wishes Could Buy", Octtober 4-November 6, 1955.
MOMA, "The Sculpture of Matisse", February 24-May 8, 1972; (the records are contradictory on whether the piece toured to Pasadena? [should be Minneapolis] and Berkeley).
Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, "Matisse in the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art", 24 August-7 October 1979.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005.
Dorothy Kosinski, Jay McKean Fisher, Steven Nash; BMA, Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, "Matisse: Painter as Sculptor", Dallas, January 21- April 29, 2007; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 9-September 16, 2007; The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 28, 2007-February 3, 2008, cat. no. 30, p. 268, ill. pp. 133, 134.
"BMA News," Feb. 1956, p. 10-15.
'Object of the Week,' "The Sun," magazine section, 13 Sep. 1959.
Albert Elsen, 'The Sculpture of Matisse,' "Art Forum," vol. VII, #2, Oct. 1968, 22f.
Albert Elsen, "The Sculpture of Matisse," (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1972) 68-73
Legg, Alicia. The Sculpture of Matisse. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1972, cat. no. 18, page 18.
Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, "The Sculpture of Henri Matisse," (London: The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1984) cat. # 16.
Flam, Jack D. Matisse, The Man and His Art 1869-1918. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 1986, page 194, fig. 189.
Ernst-Gerhard Guse, "Henri Matisse: Drawings and Sculpture," (Munich: Prestel, 1991) ill. 112.
BMA Today, Fall 2007, pp. 7-8.
Kosinski, Dorothy, Jay McKean Fisher, and Steven Nash. Matisse: Painter as Sculptor. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art; Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art: Nasher Sculpture Center; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007, pages 132-134, 268, cat. no. 30.
"Matisse, Radical Invention 1913-1917," (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago), 2010, #1.1 & Fig. 1b (detail).
Inscribed: "HM 5/10" on proper right rear of base
Markings: Foundry Stamp "Cire - C. Valsuani - perdue" front base, proper right. "127" in black on bottom (2).
