(Le Cateau-Cambrésis 1869–1954 Nice)
Tête de jeune Fille, 1950, signed, dated H. Matisse Mai 50,
ink on fine wove paper, 52 x 40 cm, framed

Confirmation of Authenticity:
Wanda de Guébriant, Archives Matisse, Paris, 13.5.2015 on the reverse of the work:
“Dessin réalisé par Henri Matisse à Nice en 1950, no. Q23 bis des archives de l’ artiste”

Provenance:
Collection Madame Lang, Paris
Sale of the Estate
Musée Galliéra, Paris, 4 March 1972, lot 36
Galerie Renou et Colle, Paris
O’ Hana Gallery, London
Sotheby’s Johannesburg, 4 March 1975, lot 31
Private Collection, USA (1975–2014)
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
London, O’ Hana Gallery, Summer Exhibition of Paintings
and Sculpture of the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries,
May–September 1972

The work Tête de jeune fille (Head of a Young Girl) dates back to 1950 and was created in the last years of Henri Matisse’s life, a time in which on account of serious illness, he increasingly turned away from the classical techniques of painting. During this time he limited himself to essential emphases. The resulting reduction of the form — all the way to total abstraction — provokes dynamic reactivity as concerns the contents of the picture.
The head of the young girl in the work Tête de jeune Fille is also sparely sketched in black ink on fine paper. The black and white illustration is the portrait of a young woman unknown to us. The sweeping, tension-laden lines give the silhouette a sensual and elegant appearance. The work shows one of the main motifs that Matisse repeatedly dealt with throughout his career: the portrait of a woman. Tête de jeune fille refers to an extensive group of drawings which, in their variation, always evince a similar motif: the face of a young woman in different glimpses of the picture.
With this motif, Matisse picks up a popular genre of art. The play with the variations of portrait painting can depict the person in the picture in their entirety. The person’s essence ought to be recognisable regardless of the exact reproduction of the physiological appearance - individuality and intimacy ought to become visible. The image of the human face in particular becomes the propitious part through which to represent the whole of the portrayed person, through individual facial expressions and concrete gestures. Matisse brings the image of the young woman almost beyond recognition to only a few lines that countenance her face. The viewer’s gaze does not linger on a concrete point, but his is continuously set in motion by the sweeping lines. Using black lines on white paper, the artist relays the protagonist’s feelings and, through the work, obviates her inner state. The process of drawing results in an emotional perception of things, which in turn is transformed into the elegance and beauty of a fine line.

“The character of a face in a drawing depends not upon its various proportions but upon a spiritual light which it reflects – so much so that two drawings of the same face may have the same character though drawn in different proportions.”
Henri Matisse, in: Jazz, published by R. Piper, New York 1960, p. 41.