?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 50,000
HENRI MATISSE Nu, Étude de torsion du corps.
Lithograph, 1926. 435x795 mm; 17 1/8x31 1/4 inches, full margins. Signed and numbered 48/50 in pencil, lower left. A superb impression of this large, very scarce lithograph. This is Matisse's largest lithograph of a female nude.
We have found fewer than 15 other impressions at auction in the past 25 years.
Though he was primarily known for his paintings and sculptures, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was also a prolific printmaker, producing over 800 individual prints (typically in editions of 25 to 50) from 1900 to 1954. He moved freely between various printmaking techniques and used printmaking as an extension of his drawing style and process. The imagery he created often was repeated forms of reclining nudes, portraits or dancing bodies drawn with elegant and energetic contour lines. Matisse found printmaking to be an exciting medium that allowed innovation while also enabling him to produce enough works to satisfy the increasing demand for his artworks. While Matisse's prints are relatively unappreciated next to his paintings and sculptures, their wide dissemination and demand undoubtedly contributed immensely to his position as a preeminent artist of the previous century. Duthuit 472.
