Fleurs et feuilles, 1942 by Henri Matisse

Provenance:
Pierre Matisse, New York
By descent to Pierre-Noël Matisse, Paris
The Estate of Jacquelyne Miller Matisse
Christie's, auction, New York, 8-15 February 2023, lot 27
Private Collection

Literature:
John Elderfield, "The Drawings of Henri Matisse", New York, 1985, page 84

While Henri Matisse’s cutouts are his most recognizable works—combining the fluid line of his drawings with the vibrant colours of his paintings—his drawings offer a more intimate mode of expression. Using pen, ink, charcoal and pencil, Matisse showcased his enduring fascination with the figure, pattern and decoration. According to the artist, he mastered drawing between the end of the thirties and the publication in early 1943 of the book "Thèmes et variations", which was intended to illustrate this accomplishment.

Throughout his career, flowers and plants were recurrent themes in Matisse’s work. As demonstrated in this drawing, they often served as decoration within his larger compositions or as standalone subjects. This work presents delicate flowers in bloom, with rounded and tightly clustered petals juxtaposed against thin, elongated leaves in the upper left corner. The organic, repetitive shapes of flowers and plants provided Matisse with an ideal medium for expressing his flowing, linear designs. Ultimately, he believed that drawing allowed him “to consider simultaneously the character of the model, the human expression, the quality of surrounding light, atmosphere and all that can only be expressed by drawing.”

Georges Matisse has confirmed the authenticity of this work.