4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2012.

Jeannette III

Artist Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)

Date1911

MediumCast bronze

Dimensions24 x 10 x 13 in. (61 x 25.4 x 33 cm)

ClassificationsModern art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.516

Terms

Woman
Bronze
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is a bronze cast bust of a woman. Without shoulders, the sculpture depicts the neck, breastbone, and head of the subject. Her face is heavily textured and abstracted. Her head is capped with solid lumps of hair.

Label TextHenri Matisse French, 1869–1954 Jeannette III, 1911 Bronze Between 1910 and 1913, Henri Matisse created a series of five bronze portrait busts of a young model. The first two works in the series are fairly straightforward (see illustration), but Jeannette III is different. Here, the artist ceased working from direct observation. Instead, he deliberately experimented with his model’s appearance, exaggerating her features and incorporating references to African sculpture. As the critic Emile Zola noted, we are looking at the visible world filtered through a temperament. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.516