Two Sisters

Two Sisters

1917

Henri Matisse, Two Sisters, 1917, Oil on canvas, 23 1/8 x 28 1/4 in. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Horace Havemeyer for the William D. Lippitt Memorial Collection by exchange, 1950.42. 

This object is currently on view

Henri Matisse was a French artist known for his boldly colored compositions and his fame among the Fauvist art movement. Matisse constantly strived to simplify his forms, emphasizing contour and eliminating modeling. His forms were designated by flat planes of color in landscapes without perspective. Following trips to Morocco in early 1913 and Nice in 1916, Matisse painted a number of studies with his model Lorette along with her sister or sisters in oriental costume. The portrait of Lorette and her sister, Two Sisters, relates to these paintings done in southern France and Morocco but without costumes.

Artist
Henri Matisse, French, 1869-1954
Born: Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
Work Locations: France
Country
France
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
frame height: 30 7/8 in, 78.4225 cm; frame width: 36 in, 91.4400 cm; frame depth: 2 1/4 in, 5.7150 cm; image height: 23 1/8 in, 58.7375 cm; image width: 28 1/4 in, 71.7550 cm
Inscription
"Henri Matisse", TR
Credit Line
Gift of Horace Havemeyer for the William D. Lippitt Memorial Collection by exchange
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art
Accession Number
1950.42
Known Provenance
(Galerie Bernheim-Jeune), Paris; purchase, (Galerie J. Mancini), Paris, 1918. Sarah Choate Sears [1858-1935], Boston; by descent, Helen Sears Bradley [1899-1966], Boston. Possibly, Margaret Seligman Lewisohn [1895-1954], New York. (M. Knoedler & Co.), New York, and on consignment with (Sam Salz), New York, by 1946; purchase, Denver Art Museum, 1950.
Exhibition History
  • "Matisse Exhibition"--Smith College, 1943
  • Cincinnati Art Museum, 1944
  • City Art Museum, St. Louis, 1945
  • "Painting in Paris"--Hatton Gallery, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1993
  • "Matisse"--Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1995
  • "Matisse In Transition: Portraits of Lorette"--Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2006
  • "Matisse: People, Masks, Models"--Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 2008/2009
  • "Matisse and the Model"--Eykyn Maclean Gallery, New York, 2011

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