Visage de Trois Quarts. Head of a Girl. Three-Quarters Full Face. by Henri Matisse, 1869-1954

Henri Matisse, 1869-1954
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Visage de Trois Quarts. Head of a Girl. Three-Quarters Full Face.

Original etching in black ink. 1945. Signed in pencil. Numbered in pencil from the edition of 25 impressions only. (There were also 5 proofs). The plate was cancelled after the edition. Rare. Provenance: The Matisse Family.
Ref: Duthuit - Matisse L'Oeuvre Gravé no 273. Planche 313.

Beautiful impression printed with a light plate tone. On pale cream chine appliqué on a white wove backing sheet, as issued. Excepetionally fine fresh condition. Full margins. Sheet: 15 1/8 x 11 1/8ins. Plate: 7 x 5 1/2ins (177x138mm)

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During the 1940?s Matisse was working on a further series of small-scale etchings such has had absorbed him two decades earlier. For the studies of the 1940?s he used plates which were in general a little larger than those of the first group, but the most significant difference in these later works was his concentration was not on the whole figure of his models but on the faces. Using a brilliantly simplified handling of line, with a special sense of flow and soft rhythm, he created a series of beautiful portrait studies.

Matisse very seldom identified the models in his studies, insisting that they were not specific portraits but rather that the features of the model were a starting point for the creation of something universal. The hallmark of these works is the extraordinary summary simplicity of the line. Within the minimum of description he was able to create a total sensation of contour, surface and volume, and indeed expression. Visage de Trois Quarts, above, is a particularly beautiful example of his work of this period. With a provenance direct from the Matisse Family it is in exceptionally fine condition.