Face Portrait Prints

This is an 18th century engraved portrait of Brooke Cobham, a nobleman in King Henry VIII's court, created by Francesco Bartolozzi (1728–1815), after a drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497- 1543) in the 16th century. Holbein was the official artist in the court of King Henry VIII. Bartolozzi used both etching and stipple engraving techniques to create the work which was then was printed in color on pink paper and hand finished with watercolor. It was published by John Chamberlaine in London in 1793 in "The Book of Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein in the Collection of His Majesty". Sir George Brooke, Baron Cobham (1497-1558) was a prominent member of King Henry VIII's royal court. He became a member of parliament in 1529 and served as a peer in the trial of Queen Anne Boleyn, which resulted in her beheading. He was rewarded for his political and military service to King Henry and Britain with land, castles and former monasteries and was made a Knight of the Garter, a prestigious membership limited to the king and a very limited number of prominent British subjects. As a member of the Privy Council following the death of young King Edward VI (Henry VIII's son), he fell out of favor when he signed a ruling disinheriting both of Henry VIII's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, in favor of Lady Jane Grey...

YOSHITOMO NARA MISS SPRING, 2012/21 Digital Pigment Print on Takeo Deep PV Hakou paper 27.9 x 22.9 cm Edition of 100 (numbered 72/100 on the ARTSPACE certificate of authenticity). Ha...

Original American Airlines - California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico by McKnight Kauffer, 1948 vintage poster. Archival linen backed in Grade A, Excellent condition. No paper loss and no restoration. Kauffer’s signature artistry is on full display with a bold and minimalist design. The striking depiction of a Western figure adorned with a cowboy hat and scarf emphasizes California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico—the sun-drenched landscapes and destinations of the era's most adventurous travelers. The clean typography and bold color contrasts evoke modernism and nostalgia, making the piece a perfect centerpiece for collectors of aviation history, vintage travel memorabilia, or timeless graphic art. Designed by E. McKnight Kauffer, a renowned artist known for his bold use of color and striking designs, this poster is a masterpiece that resonates with the charm of a bygone era. This original piece from 1948 tells a story about American Airlines and reflects the excitement of post-war travel and the booming airline industry. This rare, authentic poster...

A delightful Japanese woodblock depicting a Geisha draped in decorative textiles. Inscribed to the top right and lower right. Signature stamped in characters. Presented in a contempo...

Pablo Picasso, Spanish (1881 - 1973) - 7 Tableau Majeurs. Year: 1962, Medium: Lithograph in Three Colors on Arches, Edition: 1000, Size: 25.5 x 19 in. (64.77 x 48.26 cm), Frame Size:...

"Conception" - Portrait of a Native American on a Vision Quest Large scale and fine detailed work by the artist. Detailed and evocative depiction of a Native American elder by Frank Howell...

Linocut on vélin pur fil Johannot a la forme paper. Inscription: signed in pencil and unnumbered, as issued, from the edition of 50. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Le Poème p...

This is a newly released platinum print of "The Observer and Observed" by Susan Derges. Printed in 2022. Listing includes framing, a label of authentici...

Duke Ellington Jazz Music Legend African American Grammys NY Times Published Al Hirschfeld (1903 – 2003) Duke Ellington Sight Size: 12 x 12 1/4 inches Etching with aquatint Signed ...

Fletcher 6 state .ix. 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 (sheet 14 7/8 x 11 3/8). Edition 111. A rich impression printed on cream wove paper with full margins. Excellent condition. Illustrated: Fine ...

Medium: original woodcut. Printed in 1947 in an edition of 950 on Rives wove paper for "Pierre a feu / Les miroirs profonds" and published in Paris by Maeght. Image size: 8 1/4 x 6 1...

Fred Astaire Dancer Movie Star Oscars Academy Award Mid 20th Century Hollywood Al Hirschfeld (1903 – 2003) Fred Astaire Sight Size: 17 x 12 1/2 Etching with aquatint Signed lower ri...

Hollywood Stars 20th Century Litho - K. Hepburn, J. Wayne, S. Davis. J. Garland Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) "Hollywood" Hand-signed Limited Edition Etching, 79/175 Plate Size: 18 3/4...

Circeria Odissea is a modern artwork realized by Tono Zancanaro. Mixed colored lithograph. Hand signed and numbered on the lower margin. Edition of 52/150. Includes frame

2 colour lithograph on Somerset Velvet Warm White 400gsm Edition of 50 55.5 x 45.5 cm (21.8 x 17.9 in) Signed, numbered and dated on the front Mint Our mission is to connect art col...

"Love Letter, After Kunimasa" is a hand-painted lithograph by Michael Knigin. It is signed in the lower right and is edition 16/200. This print is inspired by the Ukiyo-e prints of U...

Original 1918 Red Cross Poster - "Have YOU a Red Cross Service Flag?" - Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith, Linen Backed. Restored horizontal fold mark and restored small tears along the bottom. This poster is, after all, more than 107 years old. Own a Piece of History! 1918 "Have You a Red Cross Service Flag?" Poster ✨ Step back into history with this original 1918 Red Cross poster. It is a poignant and touching piece of WWI-era Americana, beautifully preserving a time of nationwide unity and heartfelt service. Illustrated by the celebrated artist Jessie Willcox Smith, this lithograph captures the tender moment of a child hanging a Red Cross service flag in the window—a symbol of hope, sacrifice, and pride in supporting humanitarian efforts during World War I. The poster radiates warmth, with Smith’s signature style of innocence and emotional depth shining through in the delicate depiction of the boy, the adorned window, and the serene winter backdrop. The vibrant red and white cross emblem on the service flag is a focal point of the artwork, inspiring viewers to reflect on the values of compassion and generosity that the Red Cross championed during this period. As a significant historical artifact and a beautiful piece of early 20th-century American illustration, this poster would be an exceptional addition to any serious collection of WWI memorabilia...

PASSING CROWD is an original hand drawn lithograph by the NY figurative expressionist painter, Lester Johnson. Printed using hand lithography techniques on archival ARCHES paper 100% acid free, full bleed image, no margins. In PASSING CROWD, a group of fashionable city women and men walking...

Circassian is a lithograph made by Auguste Wahlen in 1844. Hand colored. Good condition. At the center of the artwork is the original title "Circassien". The work is part of Suit...

Original Mahatma Gandi vintage poster. Photo: Information Services of India, N.Y. In a gentle way, you can shake the world. The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, New York, NY. Archival linen backed, ready to frame, Grad A condition. Condition, c. 1960s From a series of portraits with inspirational quotes from The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Photo from the Photo Information Service of India, NY. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. (Wikipedia) About Equitable Life. After closing to new business in 2000, parts of the business were sold off, and the remainder of the company became a subsidiary of Utmost Life and Pensions in January 2020. The Equitable Life Assurance Society (Equitable Life), founded in 1762, is a life insurance...

Original, LET’S GO! U.S. MARINES, on Land at Sea and in the Air, 1941 vintage poster. Archival linen backed and ready to frame. Original US Government-issued fold marks were pr...

after Henri MATISSE (1869-1954) Lithograph Signed in the plate Vélin Paper Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm (12 x 9") This lithograph is one of a rare edition made during the Second World War ...

HC 6/50. Signed by the artist on back. Image measures 9 x 9 inches. Canvas is Unstretched. Excellent Condition.

La Capeline de Paille d'Italie (The Italian Straw Hat). 1923. Lithograph. Duthuit 430. 17 3/4 x 15 3/4 (sheet 23 1/8 x 17 7/8). Trial proof, apart fr...

Blondie Blue by BATIK signed limited edition POP ART print Paper Size OVERSIZE 24 x 20" inches / 51 x 41 cm Signed & numbered by artist on front Archival Pigment print Limited to ...

Artist: Raul Anguiano, Mexican (1915 - 2006) Title: Muchacha de Cuetzalan Year: 1988 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 100 Size: 29 x 22 in. (73.66 x 55.88 cm)

Shirley MacLaine Dances Broadway Film Star 20th Century Litho NYRT Published Al Hirschfeld (1903 -2003) "Shirley MacLaine Dances on Broadway" Hand-signed L...

In continuing with representing fine artists that are connected to the music industry we are please to announce that we are the only gallery in the United States representing the wor...

Artist: Anthony Hamilton (British-French, 1645-1719) Title: "Susan, Lady Belasyse" (Plate 45) Portfolio: Memoirs of Grammont Year: 1808 (First edition) Medium: Original Stipple Engra...

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) "Portrait de Jacqueline" 1959 (Baer 1245; Bloch 923) ...

The actor Nakamura Shikan, color woodcut, probably from the series "9 Dances", Mid-19th Century, realized by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). Dimensions. 38x26.5cm, unframed, mounted...

Tracey Emin HRH (Her Royal Highness) Royal Britannia, 2012 Signed, dated and numbered 141/200 in graphite on the front Polymer gravure on Zerkall paper Frame included Polymer gravur...

Kabuki actor is aWoodcut print realized in the early 20th Century after Utagawa Kunisada. Good condition and Beautiful colored woodblock print, included a cardboard passpartout. I...

Poster. Measures 16 x 11 inches and is Unframed. Good/Fair Condition-signs of wear consistent with age and handling.

This fragmented portrait of a painter by Pablo Picasso features bright, bold colors and relies on visible brushstrokes to show the figure of the man instead of the geometric shapes a...

"Laughing Matters" Comedy Legends-Marx Bros, Laurel, Hardy, Burns, Allen, Twain Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) Laughing Matters Lithograph on heavy paper, 1987 Signed lower right, numbe...

Maternal Delight III, or Mothers Joy III, (In Swedish Modersglädje III) by Anders Zorn depicting a young woman lovingly playing with her child. A small amusing detail is the small child face visible on the lower left side, just outside the oval. This is an extremely rare etching and is one of two or possibly three known in existence of a so called cancellation proof. A cancellation proof etching of the Maternal Delight III is in the Boston Public Library Collection, USA. Signed Zorn in the plate. When Zorn decided that the vey limited number of prints were all done he took his burin, (the steel cutting tool used in engraving also, back in history, called graver), and made cross hatched lines across the figures on the original plate, after which he made a couple of after proofs or cancellation proofs and the present etching is one of them. This gives the present work a special and interesting image of one of Zorns best and rarest etchings. Created in London 1883, the first year he made etchings. Etching 276 x 406mm Sheet circa 33,5 x 48cm Literature Asplund 6. Delteil. 5. Hjert & Hjert 6. Lidbeck 6. Unfortunately some reflexes in the photos. Anders Zorn (1860-1920) was a Swedish artist who attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. He was to become one of Swedens foremost artists ever. No technique was foreign to him, he worked equally well with watercolors, wash technique or oil painting. The etching technique also attracted this virtuoso and the etchings contributed greatly to his success. Between 1875 to 1880, Zorn studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm, where he amazed his teachers with his talent. Members of the Stockholm Society approached him with commissions. In early 1881, Zorn met Emma Lamm, whose background was quite different from his. Emma Lamm was from a wealthy Jewish merchant family. She was interested in art and culture and, after a long engagement, they were married in 1885. During the 1880s Zorn traveled extensively, to London, Paris, the Balkans, Spain, Italy, and the United States. In the 1890s when he was in Paris, he spent much time with Albert Edelfelt. He quickly became an international success and one of the most highly regarded painters of his era. In the beginning of Zorns career, it was primarily his skill as a portrait painter that gained him international acclaim, based principally upon his incisive ability to depict the individual character of his model, he came to portray many great people including three American Presidents: Grover Cleveland, William H. Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt. Zorn also depicted Swedish dignitaries, for example King Oscar II in 1898, King Gustaf V in 1909, Queen Sophia in 1909, Prince Eugen in 1891, fellow artist Carl Larsson in 1897 and August Strindberg in 1910. In the late 1880s, Zorn began working in the genre that is probably his hallmark for the general public, nude studies in the open air. Zorn had long been fascinated by the movements of water and the reflections of light on the water surface. Now Zorn chose to place a nude model by or in the water, with the aim of depicting people in nature. When Zorn started the art of etching, he developed a technique with Rembrandt as a model, where he built up the motif with bursts of lines. The first etching was created in London in 1883, the same year as our Maternal Delight. Axel Herman Hägg, then active in London, was Zorn's teacher in this special technique. Hägg was the person Zorn depicted in his first etching. Zorn quickly mastered the etching technique itself and a unanimous art expert was able to conclude early on that Rembrandt had now found his equal. At the age of 29, he was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur at the Exposition Universelle 1889 Paris World Fair. Zorn's reputation as an etcher spread across the world. Soon he could find his etchings in the major world metropolises in Europe and the USA. Zorn produced 289 different etchings, including portraits, genre studies and nude studies. The motifs on Anders Zorn's graphic sheets are most often based on his own paintings, as ours, which is based on a watercolor he made in 1882 on his first trip to Spain. Even during Zorn's lifetime, his etchings were considered to be artistically superior to his paintings. As a result, his graphics quickly became sought after on the international art market. He was compared to Rembrandt, who as mentioned earlier was Zorn's great role model in the art of etching. Zorn was able to combine the old technique with his personal form of impressionism and the temporary and everyday with the universal. On the printing plates, one can study his outstanding etching technique, his characteristic play with parallel lines drawn in different directions, with varying degrees of force and intensity. Zorn's art made him wealthy and he was thus able to build up a considerable collection of art. In their joint will, Anders and Emma Zorn donated their entire holdings to the Swedish State. Some of his most important works can be seen at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Other museums holding major works by Zorn include the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Zorn Collections located in Mora and Garberg, Älvdalen, consist of four museums dedicated to the life and works of Anders Zorn. Shown there are extensive works of Zorn and his collected art. The Bellman Prize (Bellmanpriset) is a literature prize for "an outstanding Swedish poet", every year awarded by the Swedish Academy. The prize was established by Anders Zorn and his wife Emma in 1920. The motif: The present etching is based on a central and important work from Zorns first important trip to Spain, 1881-1882. After visiting Madrid and Seville, Zorn set off for Cádiz, tempted by the sea and the city’s women who were reputed to be the most beautiful in all of Spain. In Maternal Delight, also translated to Mothers Joy and Mothers Pride...

Old Samurai is a Woodcut print realized in late 19 century after Utagawa Kunisada. Good condition and Beautiful colored woodblock print, included a cardboard passpartout (46x32 cm...

I’d Rather Have a Live Woman than a Frozen Leopard by Julian Schnabel, American (1951) Date: 1990 Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 16/60 Size: 35.5 x 28.5 in. (9...

19.5" x 16" Unframed Limited Edition Letterpress on Deckled Edge Paper of 450 Edition number is 312/450 Hand Signed by Shepard Fairey 2021

Serigraph by Mexican painter Rafael Coronel. Edition 28 of 100. Certificate of authenticity included.

Louis VALTAT Thoughtful Woman Etching Signed with the artist's monogram in the plate On vellum 38 x 28.5 cm (c. 14.97 x 11.23 inch) INFORMATION : Published by the Chalcographie du ...

Luciano Pavarotti & Frank Sinatra in Concert Music Legends Grammys Litho Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) Luciano Pavarotti and Frank Sinatra in Concert Limited Edition Etching Sight: ...

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1947 at the Mourlot atelier in an edition of 950 on Rives wove paper for "Pierre a feu / Les miroirs profonds" and published in Paris by Maegh...

Signed, titled and numbered by the artist. This print is currently on display at the inaugural exhibition at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture. Sonia Romero is a fu...

Two minor villains from "Medley of Tales of Revenge" square off, as performed at the Kiri theatre, Tokyo, in May of 1794. Toyko: Tsutaya Juzaburo, 1794. Woodblock (nishiki-e) with ...

Gravure originale tirée à 50 exemplaires, technique de l'eau-forte, numérotée et signée au crayon par l'artiste. Encadrée avec un cadre en bois et un verre musée. Numéro 35/50. Éd. d...

Artist: Marc Chagall Title: Job in Despair Portfolio: Drawings for the Bible Medium: Lithograph Date: 1960 Edition: Unnumbered Sheet Size: 14 3/8" x 10 1/4" Image Size: 14 3/8" x 10 ...

This artwork by Henri Matisse is a lithograph from the book Cinquante Dessins, published by Les Soins de L'Artiste in 1920. First Edition. The portfolio was edited and printed by M...

Original Avenge December 7th vintage poster. Linen backed; excellent condition. Artist: Bernard Perlin. Office of War Information, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office: 1942-O-491978 Dramatic original World War II poster depicting a sailor with his fist raised, standing above a scene of an exploding battleship, with the words “Avenge December 7” in red across the middle of the poster. The striking image on OWI “Poster No. 15,” memorializing the events of December 7, 1941, was created by artist Bernard Perlin. U. S. Government Printing Office. Year: 1942 As a Life Magazine war art correspondent living in Europe during the 1940s and 1950s, Perlin continued to document social change uniquely. An American painter primarily known for creating many American posters during WWII and for magic realism...

Rufino Tamayo, Mexican (1899 - 1991) - Cabeza Sobre Fondo Verde, Portfolio: Rufino Tamayo 15 aquafuertes, Year: 1979, Medium: Etching, signed and numbered in crayon, Edition: 14/...

Kiyoshi Saitō (1907 – 1997) Maiko Kyoto (B) 1959, portrait of a girl facing left, with black and white obi; strong woodgrain texture background. Signature and artist’s seal lower left. Margins are covered with mat board possibly concealing title, date and edition. Visible Area: H 20.75 in. x W 15 in. Artist Biography: Kiyoshi Saito was born in Fukushima prefecture in 1907. At the age of five he moved to Otaru in Hokkaido, where he would come to serve as an apprentice to a sign painter. Saito became infatuated with art after studying drawing with Gyokusen Narita and moved to Tokyo in 1932 to study Western-style painting at the Hongo Painting Institute. He began experimenting with woodblock prints and exhibiting his works with Nihon Hanga Kyokai in 1936. Saito mainly worked in oil painting until his invitation from Tadashige Ono...

A fine original woodblock by the Japanese Ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861). Signed with the artist's seal in the print. Handsomely presented in a thin wooden frame. On pa...

Original Lithograph - Henri Matisse - Apollinaire Artist : Henri MATISSE 13 x 10 inches Edition: 151/330 References : Duthuit-Matisse Catalogue raisonné 31 MATISSE'S BIOGRAPHY YOUTH AND EARLY EDUCATION Henri Emile Benoît Matisse was born in a tiny, tumbledown weaver's cottage on the rue du Chêne Arnaud in the textile town of Le Cateau-Cambrésis at eight o'clock in the evening on the last night of the year, 31 December 1869 (Le Cateau-Cambrésis is in the extreme north of France near the Belgian border). The house had two rooms, a beaten earth floor and a leaky roof. Matisse said long afterwards that rain fell through a hole above the bed in which he was born. Matisse’s ancestors had lived in the area for centuries before the convulsive social and industrial upheavals of the nineteenth century. Matisse grew up in a world that was still detaching itself from a way of life in some ways unchanged since Roman times. The coming of the railway had put Bohain on the industrial map, but people still traveled everywhere on foot or horseback. Matisse’s father, Émile Hippolyte Matisse, was a grain merchant whose family were weavers. His mother, Anna Heloise Gerard, was a daughter of a long line of well-to-do tanners. Warmhearted, outgoing, capable and energetic, she was small and sturdily built with the fashionable figure of the period: full breasts and hips, narrow waist, neat ankles and elegant small feet. She had fair skin, broad cheekbones and a wide smile. "My mother had a face with generous features," said her son Henri, who always spoke of her with particular tenderness of the sensitivity. Throughout the forty years of her marriage, she provided unwavering, rocklike support to her husband and her sons. Matisse later said: "My mother loved everything I did." He grew up in nearby Bohain-en-Vermandois, an industrial textile center, until the age of ten, when his father sent him to St. Quentin for lycée. Anna Heloise worked hard. She ran the section of her husband's shop that sold housepaints, making up the customers' orders and advising on color schemes. The colors evidently left a lasting impression on Henri. The artist himself later said he got his color sense from his mother, who was herself an accomplished painter on porcelain, a fashionable art form at the time. Henri was the couple’s first son. The young Matisse was an awkward youth who seemed ill-adapted to the rigors of the North; in particular, he hated the gelid winters. He was a pensive child and by his own account he was a dreamy, frail and not outstandingly bright. In later life he never lost his feeling for his native soil, for seeds and growing things he had encountered in his youth. The fancy pigeons he kept in Nice more than half a century after he left home recalled the weavers' pigeon-lofts tucked away behind even the humblest house in Bohain. Matisse's childhood memories were of a stern upbringing. "Be quick!" "Look out!" "Run along!" "Get cracking!" were the refrains that rang in his ears as a boy. In later years when survival itself depended on habits of thrift and self-denial, the artist prided himself on being a man of the North. When Matisse in turn had children of his own to bring up, he chided himself for any lapse in discipline or open display of tenderness as weakness on his part. In 1887 he went to Paris to study law, working as a court administrator in Le Cateau-Cambrésis after gaining his qualification. Although he considered law as tedious, he nonetheless passed the bar in 1888 with distinction and began his practice begrudgingly. Once Matisse finished school, his father, a much more practical man, arranged for his son to obtain a clerking position at a law office. PAINTING: BEGINNINGS Matisse’s discovery of his true profession came about in an unusual manner. Following an attack of appendicitis, he began to paint in 1889, when his mother had brought him art supplies during the period of convalescence. He said later, “From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.” Matisse’s mother was the first to advise her son not to adhere to the “rules” of art, but rather listen to his own emotions. Matisse was so committed to his art that he later extended a warning to his fiancée, Amélie Parayre, whom he later married: “I love you dearly, mademoiselle; but I shall always love painting more.” Matisse had discovered "a kind of paradise" as he later described it. His drastic change of profession deeply disappointed his father. Two years later in 1891 Matisse returned to Paris to study art at the Académie Julian and became a student of William-Adolphe Bouguereau. After a discouraging year at the Académie Julian, he left in disgust at the overly perfectionist style of teaching there. Afterwards he trained with Gustave Moreau, an artist who nurtured more progressive leanings. In both studios, as was usual, students drew endless figure studies from life. From Bouguereau, he learned the fundamental lessons of classical painting. His one art-schooled technical standby, almost a fetish, was the plumb line. No matter how odd the angles in any Matisse, the verticals are usually dead true. Moreau was a painter who despised the "art du salon", so Matisse was destined, in a certain sense, to remain an "outcast" of the art world. He initially failed his drawing exam for admission to the École des Beaux-Arts, but persisted and was finally accepted. Matisse began painting still-lives and landscapes in the traditional Flemish style, at which he achieved reasonable proficiency. Most of his early works employ a dark palette and tend to be gloomy. Chardin was one of Matisse's most admired painters having made four the French still-life master paintings in the Louvre. Although he executed numerous copies after the old masters he also studied contemporary art. His first experimentations earned him a reputation as the rebellious member of his studio classes. In 1896, Matisse was elected as an associate member of the Société Nationale, which meant that each year he could show paintings at the Salon de la Société without having to submit them for review. In the same year he exhibited 5 paintings in the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and the state bought two of his paintings. This was the first and almost only recognition he received in his native country during his lifetime. In 1897 and 1898, he visited the painter John Peter Russell on the island Belle Île off the coast of Brittany. Russell introduced him to Impressionism and to the work of Van Gogh who had been a good friend of Russell but was completely unknown at the time. Matisse's style changed completely, and he would later say "Russell was my teacher, and Russell explained color theory to me." Matisse also observed Russell's and other artists' stable marriages. This probably influenced him to find in Amélie Noellie Parayre, his future wife, his anchor. The Dinner Table (1897) was Matisse’s first masterpiece, and he had spent the entire winter working on the oeuvre. Though the Salon displayed the piece, they hung the work in a poor location, disgusted by what they considered its radical, Impressionist aspects. Caroline Joblaud was Matisse's early lover for four years during his initial struggles to affirm his artistic direction and professional career. Caroline (also called Camille) gave Matisse his first daughter Marguerite in 1894, who after Matisse's marriage to Amélie Noellie Parayre was warmly accepted contrary to conventional hostility such arrangements provoked. Caroline posed various times for the artist’s compositions while Marguerite served many times as a model for Matisse throughout his life. MARRIAGE WITH AMÉLIE NOELLIE PARAYRE The Matisses of Bohain and the Parayres of Beauzelle had outwardly nothing in common, and there was no reason why Matisse and Amélie should ever have met. But in October 1897 Matisse went to a wedding in Paris and happened to sit next to her at the uproarious banquet that followed. There had been no banal flirtation between them, even when the wine flowed, each recognized the other as true metal, and when they got up from the table she held out her hand to Henri Matisse in a way that he never forgot. Matisse at that time was not yet the professorial figure of legend. He was known as a prankster, as a ribald and anti-clerical songster, and as someone who had once broken up a café concert performance just for the hell of it. Amélie's relatives operated at that time within a social, intellectual, and political context of which Matisse had had no previous experience. They stood for free thinking, for the separation of church and state, and for the secularization of the French educational system. Her family, better off that that of Matisse, provided the support he needed for the budding artist. When Matisse married Amélie in January 1898, they had been introduced only three months after. Amélie's Aunt Noélie and two of her brothers ran a successful women's shop called the Grande Maison des Modes. Before her marriage, Amélie had shown a gift for designing, making, and modeling hats for a fashionable clientele. In June 1899, she found a partner and opened a shop of her own on the rue de Châteaudun. This allowed Henri and herself to live, with Marguerite, in a tiny two-room apartment on the same street. Madame Matisse, fervently loyal, would play a fundamental role in the life and career of the artist for more than 40 years. Marguerite was to become her father's lifetime mainstay In 1902 disaster struck. Amélie’s parents were disgraced and financially ruined in a spectacular scandal of national scope, as the unsuspecting employees of a woman whose financial empire was based on fraud. Thanks to his early years in a lawyer's office, Matisse was able to busy himself to great effect in the organization of his father-in-law's defense. When all about him lost their heads, burst into tears, and felt more than sorry for themselves, Henri Matisse dealt with their problems one by one. The ordeal had taken its toll, in more than one way. His doctors ordered Matisse to go to Bohain and take two months' complete rest. Amélie had lost both her hat shop and the apartment on the rue de Châteaudun. For the first time, Henri, Amélie and the three children were united in Bohain, having nowhere else to go. Hillary Spurling, one of Matisse’s biographers, asserts that Amélie’s memories of that public disgrace nurtured a “suspicion of the outside world” that would always mark the Matisse family. The Matisse family formed a kind of hermetic unit which revolved around the artist’s work and profession. They fitted their activities according his breaks and work sessions. Silence was essential. Even during the years when Matisse lived mostly alone in Nice, an annual ritual of unpacking, stretching, framing and hanging ended with the whole family settling down to respond to the paintings. The conference might last several days. Then the dealers were admitted. Matisse and his wife had had two sons, Jean (born 1899) and Pierre (born 1900). He was not always in peace with his family. He wrote that their views were not always in accord “which disturbs me considerably in my work, for which I require the most complete calm and from those how surround me, a serenity that I cannot find here. I intend to move to a village a few league away.” Pierre, his brother, Jean, and Marguerite remained close to their father through every vicissitude, and Matisse, in his last invalid years, was devoted to his several grandchildren. In 1899, at a time when his paintings displayed rebellious talent but not much clear direction, Matisse began attending classes in clay modeling and sculpture. Assigned to copy one of the sculptural masterpieces in the Louvre, he selected Jaguar Devouring a Hare a violently precise work by Antoine-Louis Barye. Later, whenever his paintings seemed stuck, he turned to sculpture to organize his thoughts and sensations. Influenced by the works of the post-Impressionists Paul Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Paul Signac, and also by Japanese art, Matisse made color a crucial element of his paintings. Matisse said, "In modern art, it is indubitably to Cézanne that I owe the most." By studying Cézanne’s fragmented planes -- which stretched the idea of the still life to a forced contemplation of color surfaces themselves -- Matisse was able to reconstruct his own philosophy of the still life. Many of his paintings from 1899 to 1905 make use of a pointillist technique adopted from Signac. In 1898, he went to London to study the paintings of J. M. W. Turner and then went on a trip to Corsica. After years in poverty, Matisse went through his "dark period" (1902-03), moved briefly to naturalism, went back to a dark palette and told friends in 1903 that he had lost all desire to paint and had almost decided to give up. Fortunately, Matisse was able to earn some money painting a frieze for the World Fair at the Grand Palais in Paris. He also traveled extensively in the early 1900s when tourism was still a new idea. Brought on by railroad, steamships, and other forms of transportation that appeared during the industrial revolution, travel became a popular pursuit. As a cultured tourist, he developed his art with regular doses of travel. FAUVISM Matisse's career can be divided into several periods that changed stylistically, but his underlying aim always remained the same: to discover "the essential character of things" and to produce an art "of balance, purity, and serenity," as he himself put it. The changing studio environments seemed always to have had a significant effect on the style of his work. In these first years of struggle Matisse set his revolutionary artistic agenda. He disregarded perspective, abolished shadows, repudiating the academic distinction between line and color. He was attempting to overturn a way of seeing evolved and accepted by the Western world for centuries by substituting a conscious subjectivity in the place of the traditional illusion of objectivity . Matisse hit his stride in the avant-garde art world in the first years of the new decade. He explored the modern art scene through frequent visits to galleries such as Durand-Ruel and Vollard, where he was exposed to work by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh. Matisse’s first solo exhibition took place in 1904, without much success. In 16 May 1905 he arrived in the charming Catalan port of Collioure, in the south of France. He soon invited the painter André Derain (1880-1954), 11 years his junior, to join him. By 1905, Matisse was considered spearhead the Fauve movement in France, characterized by its spontaneity and roughness of execution as well as use of raw color straight from the palette to the canvas. Matisse combined pointillist color and Cézanne’s way of structuring pictorial space stroke by stroke to develop Fauvism - a way less of seeing the world than of feeling it with one’s eyes. When the Fauve summer drew to an end, Derain left Collioure with 30 paintings, 20 drawings and some 50 sketches, never to return, while Matisse departed some days later bringing back to Paris 15 finished paintings, 40 aquarelles, over 100 drawings. He returned Collioure in the summers of 1906, 1907, 1911 and 1914. The lure of the sun would prove always to have powers of restoration to the artist throughout his life particularly after periods of great emotional exertion. When Fauvist works were first exhibited Salon d'Automne in Paris they created a scandal. Eyewitness accounts tell of laughter emanating from room VII where they were displayed. Gertrud Stein, one of Matisse's most important future supporters, reported that people scratched at the canvases in derision. "A pot of paint has been flung in the face of the public" was the reaction by the critic Camille Mauclair. Louis Vauxcelles described the work with the historic phrase "Donatello au milieu des fauves!" (Donatello among the wild beasts), referring to a Renaissance-type sculpture that shared the room with them. His comment was printed on 17 October 1905 in Gil Blas, a daily newspaper, and passed into popular usage. Derain himself later called the Fauves' color "sticks of dynamite." The painting that was singled out for attacks was Matisse's Woman with a Hat, a portrait of Madame Matisse. This picture was bought be was bought by Gertrude and Leo Stein, a fact which had a very positive effect on Matisse who was suffering demoralization from the bad reception of his work. Matisse continued his experiments in Collioure, visible in the painting The Open Window and the View of Collioure , also a characteristic work of Fauvism in its raw color and disregard for details. Both of these works of the landscape in the French Mediterranean present a distinct development towards the spontaneous and uninhibited style. Other than André Derain, Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and Maurice Vlaminck were also members of the Fauve movement. However, Matisse’s intimate friends among artists were mostly easygoing minor painters, such as Albert Marquet. Matisse’s temperamental aloneness made him prey to vertiginous depressions. He later recalled a breakdown that he underwent in Spain, in 1910: “My bed shook, and from my throat came a little high-pitched cry that I could not stop.” From the onset of is career women were from one of the cardinal motifs of the artist's production. His Joy of Life (1906) draws us into the world of hallucinatory vividness composed of nymphs set in an idyllic open fields dressed in pure color and sensual outline. Two women lounge in the sunlight while two more chat on the edge of the forest. One crouches to pick some flowers while her companion weaves a chain of them into her hair. A couple embraces each other while another group engages in a lively round-dance in the distance. In this way, Joy of Life depicts woodland nymphs engaging in a celebration of their life, their womanhood, and their sexuality. Due to the recurrent incidence of nude women and intensely sensual interpretation many observers have assumed that as a man Matisse must have been a hedonist. On the contrary, historic examination demonstrates that in reality, he was rather a self-abnegating Northerner who lived only to work, and did so in chronic anguish, recurrent panic, and amid periodic breakdowns. While Picasso recompensed himself, as he went along, with gratifications of intellectual and erotic play Matisse did not. In an age of ideologies, Matisse dodged all ideas except perhaps one: that art is life by other means. Matisse’s uninhibited celebration of women is often believed to have initiated from Cézanne’s painting Three Bathers (1882) (which he had acquired for himself along with a Van Gogh and a Gauguin). However, Matisse depicts women as nurturing, welcoming, and unlike the forbidding, massive clay-like presence of those of Paul Cézanne. FAME The decline of the Fauvist movement, after 1906, did nothing to deter the rise of Matisse. From 1906 -1917 he lived in Paris and established his home, studio, and school at Hôtel Biron. Among his neighbors is sculptor Auguste Rodin, writer Jean Cocteau, and dancer Isadora Duncan. Many of his finest works were created in this period, when he was an active part of the great gathering of artistic talent in Montparnasse, even though he did not quite fit in with his conservative appearance and strict bourgeois work habits. In fact, the aim of Matisse’s art was something less than revolutionary. In 1908, in a famous statement drawn from “Notes of a Painter,” Matisse declared as his ideal an art “for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.” Matisse's personal habits were incredibly regular. On a typical day rose early and worked all morning with a second work session after lunch, followed by violin practice, a simple supper (vegetable soup, two hard-boiled eggs, salad and a glass of wine) and an early bedtime. In 1906, he created a series of 12 lithographs, all variations on the theme of a seated nude. He chose to share his graphic work with the public almost immediately. The lithographs were exhibited at the Druet Gallery in Paris the same year that they were produced, and the woodcuts were shown at the Salon des Independants in the spring of 1907. In 1907 Appolinaire, commenting about Matisse in an article published in La Falange, said, "We are not here in the presence of an extravagant or an extremist undertaking: Matisse's art is eminently reasonable." Notwithstanding newly-won fame, Matisse's work continued to encounter vehement criticism and it was difficult for him to provide for his family. His controversial 1907 painting Blue Nude was burned in effigy at the Armory Show in Chicago in 1913. Contrary to the fate of the Impressionists, Matisse and other Fauves were able to exhibit in art galleries. In 1908 Paul Cassirer, the German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, staged an exhibit of Matisse’s works in Berlin. In the same year the American photographer Alfred Stieglitz in New York organized him one-man show in his tiny Manhattan gallery called 291 which effectively introduced Matisse the powerful American art market. In the first decade of his notoriety as the leader of the Fauves, Matisse was more admired by foreigners than by the French. It was, after all, the Russians and the Americans who acquired significant collections of his early work almost as quickly as it was created. The great Matisses we see in the Paris museums today were mostly acquired after the artist's death in lieu of death duties. It took the French a good deal longer to understand Matisse's greatness-longer, certainly, than the international cadre of aspiring talents that flocked to his classes when he was still one of the most controversial figures in the Paris avant-garde. In the summer of 1907, Matisse and his wife went on a long trip to italy "for work and Pleasure," visiting Venice and Padua, where they admired Giotto's frescos. In Florence the were the guests of the Steins in their villa in Fiesole. From this base matisse visited Arezzo, to study Piero della Francesca, and Siena, attracted by the early Sienese painters, especially, Duccio. PICASSO, GERTRUDE STEIN AND THE CONE SISTERS During the first decade of the 20th century Americans in Paris Gertrude Stein, her brothers Leo Stein, Michael Stein and Michael's wife Sarah took keen interest in Matisse's art. In addition, Gertrude Stein's two friends from Baltimore. Clarabel and Etta Cone, became major patrons of Matisse and Picasso, collecting hundreds of their works.The Cone Sisters acquired their first Matisse in 1906 and, during the next four decades, went on to form one of the world's great collections of his art. The Cone Collection not only contains major works from every phase of Matisse's long career but reflects the sisters' special interest in his Nice period, when a new complexity of form and psychology entered the ever intense surface allure of his paintings. In April of 1906 during a gathering at the house of the legendary Gertrude Stein, Matisse was introduced to Pablo Picasso who was 11 years younger. Picasso and Matisse were poles apart aesthetically and their life styles were no less so. Matisse was markedly taller and more polished than the stocky, cocky Catalan, was then ruler of the turbulent Paris avant-garde art scene. The two were said to have always been looking over their shoulders at each other. It is well-known that after their rivalry grew, sides were taken. Picasso later said: "No one has ever looked at Matisse's paintings more carefully than I; and no one has looked at mine more carefully than he." One key difference between their pictorial concepts was that Matisse drew and painted from nature, while Picasso was much more inclined to work from imagination. The subjects painted most frequently by both artists were women and still lives, with Matisse more likely to place his figures in fully realized interiors. Gertrude Stein, who loved stirring things up, wrote, "the feeling between the Picassoites and the Matisse-ites became bitter." Although Matisse dryly noted that "our disputes were always friendly," it should be pointed out that Picasso and his friends threw suction-cupped darts at Matisse's 1906 Portrait of Marguerite (which Picasso had obtained in a trade for his own Pitcher, Bowl and Lemon, from 1907). While the rift between the two artists eventually healed, the one between their supporters remained. ACADEMIE MATISSE IN PARIS & SERGEI SHCHUKIN In 1909, with the Matisse family lived in a former convent on the Boulevard des Invalides, in Paris, where the artist conducted a painting school. His immense notoriety, which had been confirmed in 1905-06 by Joy of Life, a work which seemed to trash every possible norm of pictorial order and painterly finesse.His friends organized and financed the Académie Matisse in Paris, a private and non-commercial school in which Matisse instructed young artists. It operated from 1911 until 1917. Hans Purrmann and Sarah Stein were several of his most loyal students. Although it lasted for only three years (1908-11), and yet, during its brief existence the Académie Matisse became one of the principal crossroads of modern painting for a number of gifted European and American artists. Given the reputation Matisse had acquired as the"wild man" of modernist color, it must have come as a shock to some of his early students that the program of instruction he offered was remarkably conservative. As Jean Heiberg, the first Norwegian to enroll in the Académie, later wrote in a memoir: "The school had, at Matisse's suggestion, acquired a copy of two antique sculptures from the Louvre, Mars and an archaic sculpture, which he often used to demonstrate. Every now and then he got completely rid of the life model and we only drew from the plaster casts, and his critiques then were no less profitable." Among Matisse’s students was Olga Meerson, a Russian Jew who had studied with Wassily Kandinsky in Munich and, already possessed of an elegant style, sought to remake herself under Matisse’s tutelage. Amélie suspected the worst. Perhaps a combination of Amélie’s jealousy and Meerson’s neediness caused a Matisse to end the connection, with bad feeling all around. Meerson moved to Munich, where she married the musician Heinz Pringsheim, a brother-in-law of Thomas Mann. Never having fulfilled her promise as a painter, she committed suicide in Berlin, in 1929. One of Matisse's biographers, with access to much of the artist's correspondence, contends that the artist, after his marriage, rarely, if ever, had sex with models, despite his apparent feelings for many. Two Russian art collectors stood out at the beginning of the 20th century: the cloth merchant Sergei Shchukin (1854–1936) and the textile manufacturer Ivan Morozov (1871–1921). Both acquired modern French art, developed a sensibility for spotting new trends, and publicized them in Russia. In this period, Matisse had initiated his fecund association with the Russian textile magnate and visionary collector, Sergei Shchukin. The artist created one of his major works La Danse specially for Shchukin as part of a two painting commission. Inspired by a circular dance-- perhaps a sardana - performed by fishermen at Collioure, this painting embodies the clash between the sacred and reality. Human hands link together, but they form a divine spirit. Moreover, Matisse all but abandoned perspective The work ’s flatness emphasizes the idea, colors, and material, a notion that made Matisse a model for Modernists. The other painting commissioned was Music, 1909. Shchukin was considered by some almost as a co-producer of some of the artist’s greatest works and was strongly commuted to the French painter’s work. Concerning the violent attacks on his friend, the Russian wrote to the artist: “The public is against you, but the future is yours.” By 1914 Shchukin’s house in Moscow contained thirty-seven Matisses. “He always picked the best,” the artist said. During the political revolution Lenin expropriated Shchukin collection in person but allowed Shchukin to remain, in servants’ quarters, as caretaker and guide. He died in Paris, in 1936. The collection is now in the Hermitage and Pushkin Museums From about 1911 to 1915, Matisse struggled with the ideas of Cubism, an experiment he felt he was "not participating in" because it did not "speak to [his] deeply sensory nature." MOROCCO Like many avant-garde artists in Paris, Matisse was receptive to a broad range of influences. He is one of the first painters to take an interest in various forms of “primitive” art. His art was profoundly influenced by Easter art as well. Matisse first flirted with the idea of visiting Morocco after a trip to the Moorish part of Spain in the winter of 1910. This taste of the Moors incited a flame of hope that there would be greater inspiration to paint in Morocco. Furthermore, well aware of the exotic subjects in Morocco that had engendered a wealth of inspiration for the famous French painter Delacroix when he visited the country over eighty years before, Matisse felt Morocco would stimulate his painting genius in ways Europe could not. He strove for neither the picturesque nor the pornographic. In Morocco, Matisse seems to have had difficulties finding models who would pose for him, particularly women because of the law of the veil. Only Jewesses and prostitutes were exempt. Luckily, Matisse to have found the prostitute Zorah for the purpose although he did not paint her as a prostitute. Instead, in his first picture of her, Zorah en Jaune, sexual themes are most conspicuously absent from the canvas. As a prostitute used to exposing and flaunting her body, Zorah could have easily been painted nude or with less clothing to show herself off, but instead Matisse chooses to keep her clothed and posed with prudence. Unlike the primitive, nude Western women in the Fauve Joy of Life. Moroccan Zorah is clothed with respect and detail to her finer characteristics. He is developing his ability to paint with awareness of the non-sexual qualities of his subject, a movement away from Fauve women. Many of Matisse's Moroccan paintings are covered only in the thinnest washes of pigment, as if he wanted the texture of the unpainted canvas to show through so that it would add rawness to the browns and grays. Matisse's odalisques have been described as "elaborate fictions" in which the artist re-created the image of the Islamic harem using French models posed in his Nice apartment. The fabrics, screens, carpets, furnishings and costuming recalled the exoticism of the "Orient" and provided a theme for Matisse's preoccupation with the figure and elaborate patterns of exotic fabrics. Although Matisse's interest in textiles are evident in his compositions made during his 1906 trip to Morocco, it didn't begin as a typical European attraction to the exotic. It was already present to him as a descendent of generations of weavers, who was raised among weavers in Bohain-en-Vermandois, which in the 1880's and 90's was a center of production of fancy silks for the Parisian fashion houses. Like virtually all his northern compatriots, he had an inborn appreciation of their texture and design. He understood the properties of weight and hang, he knew how to use pins and paper patterns, and he was supremely confident with scissors. Matisse was known to be an avid collector of fabrics, from his days as a poor art student in Paris to the latter years of his life, when his Nice studio overflowed with Persian carpets, delicate Arab embroideries, richly hued African wall hangings, and any number of colorful cushions, curtains, costumes, patterned screens, and backcloths. Textiles soon became the springboard for his radical experiments with perspective and an art based on decorative patterning and pure harmonies of color and line. When he moved house, he also moved his fabrics, describing them as "my working library." He added to the collection all his life, from markets in Algeria, Morocco and Tahiti to the end-of-season sales of Parisian haute couture. The revitalizing spirit of Morocco would live on in the artist's imagination until the cutouts of the artist's last years. AFTER PARIS Matisse continued to evolve in unexpected directions even though never became an abstract painter (though some of his most adventurous works, such as the View of Notre Dame of 1914 or the Yellow Curtain of 1916 come close). His motifs were always recognizable, and the tension between the subject and the formal aspects of the painting was a central concept of his artistic ideal. Matisse moved to Nice in 1917 to distance himself from wartime activity, where bright, warm colors showed him "simpler venues which won’t stifle the spirit." His spirit became loyal to the "silver clarity of light" in Nice, and he returned to Paris only for a few months each summer. The years 1917–30 are known as his early Nice period, when his principal subject remained the female figure or an odalisque dressed in oriental costume or in various stages of undress, depicted as standing, seated, or reclining in a luxurious, exotic interior of Matisse's own creation. These paintings are infused with southern light, bright colors, and a profusion of decorative patterns. They emanate the atmosphere suggestive of a harem. In 1929, Matisse temporarily suspended easel painting and traveled to America to sit on the jury of the 29th Carnegie International and, in 1930, spent some time in Tahiti and New York as well as Baltimore, Maryland and Merion, Pennsylvania.He was especially thrilled with New York. An important collector of modern art, and owner of the largest Matisse holdings in America, Dr. Albert Barnes of Merion, commissioned the artist to paint a large mural for the two-story picture gallery of his mansion. Matisse chose the subject of the dance, a theme that had preoccupied him since his early Fauve masterpiece Joy of Life. Americans were prominent among Matisse's patrons throughout his career, beginning with the Steins (Leo Stein bought Joy of Life right out of the Salon in 1906) and including the Cone sisters of Baltimore and the notoriously cantankerous Barnes. The foundational Matisse monograph was written during his lifetime by another American, Alfred Barr. Also important in promoting Matisse's presence before the transatlantic public was the Manhattan gallery founded in 1931 by the artist's son, Pierre, who remained a prominent figure in the New York art world for almost six decades. In addition to his father, he represented Balthus, Calder, Dubuffet, Giacometti, Miro, Tanguy and others, many of them also friends. Throughout his long and productive career, Matisse periodically refreshed his creative energies by turning from painting to drawing, sculpture and other forms of artistic expression. In his lifetime he also produced 12 illustrated books which were known as “livre d’artiste” (artist’s book), a specific type of illustrated book that became common in France around the turn of the century. These books were deluxe, limited editions, meant to be collected and admired as works of art, as well as, read. This process began when Swiss publisher Albert Skira first approached the modern master in 1930 to illustrate the work, Poesies, by 19th century French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé . Matisse responded to Skira’s invitation with great enthusiasm and that summer, devoted most of his attention to the commission while he was residing in Paris. The result was a collection of 29 beautiful etchings, of which the Museum will display 16. The subject matter, like the poems themselves, varies considerably, although many of the images reflect the artist’s vacation to the South Pacific. Matisse’s etchings of Mallarmé’s poems are considered among his greatest works in the print medium. In 1941, again for Skira, Matisse began one of his most complicated and successful printmaking projects, Florilege des Amours de Ronsard, illustrating the love poems of 16th century French Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard. Ronsard’s subject and strong imagery lent themselves gracefully to Matisse’s favored themes of fruits, flowers, the female form and portraits. The artist selected the poems himself and translated the work from Renaissance French to contemporary French for the publication of the anthology DIVORCE & LATE FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS For all his long-lasting friendships with other artists, famous and obscure, Matisse's days and nights were absorbed by solitary labor. Playing the violin seemed a more intimate consolation for decades of critical abuse than the affections of his wife and children. Although their marriage was still somewhat fragile, the Matisses had decided to stay on in Nice when their lease expired at Place Charles-Félix in the summer of 1938. Matisse and his wife were separated in 1939 after 41 years when Amélie tried to dismiss the coolly efficient young Lydia Delectorskaya, an orphan refugee from Siberia, who had been hired as Amélie’s companion. However, the Matisses’ marriage ran afoul not of any romantic rival but for the artist’s wish to stand on his own. The first climax came years before in 1913, when Amélie sat more than a hundred times for the Portrait of Madame Matisse. A friend’s diary reported at the time. “Crazy! weeping! By night he recites the Lord’s Prayer! By day he quarrels with his wife!” The portrait, which was the last work to enter Shchukin’s collection, caused Matisse “palpitations, high blood pressure and a constant drumming in his ears.” Such frenzy was not rare when Matisse had difficulty with a painting. He referred to the painting years later in a letter to her as “the one that made you cry, but in which you look so pretty.” Amélie ceded routine leadership of the family to Marguerite. The 1913 portrait was his last painting of her. Matisse and his wife met the last time to discuss details of their legal separation, in July 1939. One of its key provisions was that everything would be divided equally between the couple. The meeting took place in Paris at the Gare St. Lazare and lasted thirty minutes, during which Amélie Matisse kept up a flow of small talk while her husband."My wife never looked at me, but I didn't take my eyes off her...," Matisse wrote on the night of that final encounter: "I couldn't get a word out.... I remained as if carved out of wood, swearing never to be caught that way again." "I'm going to try to isolate myself as if I were still absent,'' Matisse announced on his first return to Paris since the official separation from his wife, 'rarely leaving his apartment except for visits to the cinema (his first color film, starring Danny Kaye, was a revelation).'' After her dismissal, Delectorskaya shot herself in the chest with a pistol, remarkably with only a slight effect. Soon after the artist and his wife were legally separated Delectorskaya was back. She arrived with a bouquet of white daisies and blue cornflowers from her Aunt’s garden on July 15th, St Henry’s Day. Their working collaboration was to last right up to Matisse’s death in 1954. Her will throughout was indomitable; she typed, kept records and meticulous accounts and paid the household bills. She also organized Matisse’s correspondence and coordinated his business affairs with an iron grip as well as being his studio assistant and muse. And when called upon, even scoured the countryside on her bike for provisions during the war. Matisse claimed that his entire household came to a standstill in her absence which, in the light of what Lydia accomplished is anything, if not an understatement. In the face of the family’s icy resentment, the Russian said of Matisse, “He knew how to take possession of people and make them feel they were indispensable. That was how it was for me, and that was how it had been for Mme. Matisse.” Life with Matisse must have been taxing but it had been Amélie’s chosen vocation, through years of their studio-centered homes. Her central role in the artist's life was security, which Shchukin’s patronage provided, along with a sizable house in Issy-les-Moulineaux, where the family moved in 1909. However, in this period Matisse was increasingly absent. In 1930, his travels took him to the United States, where he was thrilled by New York, and to Tahiti. Matisse found that Tahiti was "both superb and boring . . . There the weather is beautiful at sunrise and it does not change until night. Such immutable happiness is tiring." He dived off the reefs and never forgot the colors of the madrepores and the absinthe-green water; these appear in cut-outs like Polynesia, 1946, or The Bird and the Shark, 1947, as images of a spectacular and, on the whole, beneficent nature. In September of 1940 he employed a temporary stand-in for his regular night nurse...

After Pablo Picasso 1881 - 1973 The Dwarf Dancer (Barcelona Series) - 1966 Framed Offset Color lithograph signed, dated and dedicated at the bottom "For L...

Original Contratto Canelli Vermouth vintage Italian liquor poster. Archival linen backed and ready to frame. Very good condition. This is the later c.1950 lithograph printing of the poster. Beautiful advertising vintage affiche printed in offset lithography (second edition). There is no second printing date besides the original date inside the poster by Cappiello's signature. (Note that the earlier printing sells for about $9500.) Most standard size original Italian posters are 39" x 55" in size; or 27.5" x 39 half sheets. This is currently the lowest and best price for this Cappiello Contratto poster on 1st Dibs. The woman in this Cappiello poster rests on a large green maple leaf while holding a bottle of Vermouth Victor and a bottle of Vermouth Bianco...

40" x 30" Unframed Limited Edition Giclee on Canvas of 99 Hand Signed by Justin Bua 2009 "Harlem Rose is a throwback tribute painting to all the great female jazz vocalists from Bil...

Artist: Paul Chelko Title: Reflections Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: PP 9/10 Paper Size: 24 x 34.5 inches

A fine original woodblock by Japanese Ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). Signed with the artist's seal in the print to the upper left. Presented in a black lacquered frame...

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