Still Life of Flowers and Lemons

Former TitleBouquet and Fruits

Artist Henri Matisse (French, 1869 - 1954)

Date1944

MediumOil pastel on Arches paper

DimensionsSheet: 20 11/16 × 16 inches (52.55 × 40.64 cm)
Framed: 30 × 24 3/4 × 2 inches (76.2 × 62.87 × 5.08 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Friends of Art

Object numberF79-24

SignedRecto, lower left corner, in pencil: "HM"

InscribedRecto, lower right, in pencil: "5/1 44" Verso, lower edge, in pencil: "43-63-D / M.Ph.", "No. 1 Boquet et fruits-", "Jean Matisse".

Markingswatermark, upper right corner: Arches

On View

Not on view

Collections

Modern Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Henri Matisse: Aquarelles-Dessins, Jacques Dubourg Gallery, Paris, June 1962, no. 35, as Bouquet et Fruits.

50 Years of Collecting: The Friends of Art at the Nelson, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 15, 1984-January 15, 1985, no cat., as Bouquet et Fruits.

Dürer to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, June 23-August 18, 1996; The Cummer Museum and Gardens, Jacksonville, FL, September 20-November 29, 1996; The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, December 21, 1996-March 2, 1997, no. 78, as Still Life of Flowers and Lemons.

Dürer to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Permanent Collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, July 12-September 6, 1998, no cat., as Still Life of Flowers and Lemons.

Nature Morte, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 13, 2009-January 10, 2010, no cat., as Still Life of Flowers and Lemons.

Nature Morte/Still Life, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 2, 2017-February 4, 2018, no cat., as Still Life of Flowers and Lemons.

Gallery Label

Flowers and lemons - these simplest of pleasures are made precious by their presence in a home during the Nazi occupation of France in the last years of World War II. Together, they float in a space marked by red, vertical lines that suggest wallpaper or tablecloth or both. The small, violet blooms with their bright green centers are sweet and stemless. The lemons, clustered in their fullness, are quickly drawn in yellow and orange. With this contour drawing of flowers and lemons, a few billowy green leaves, a waisted, blue vase and uptilted bowl, Matisse awakens our senses of sight, smell and taste, as he conveys the pure joy of life using all six colors of the rainbow.

Provenance

Matisse family [1];

Acquired from the Matisse family by Lumley Cazalet, Ltd., London, by June 1979;

Purchased from Lumley Cazalet, Ltd., by the Friends of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1979;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1979.

NOTES:

[1] According to Camilla Cazalet, Lumley Cazalet, Ltd., in a letter to Ellen R. Goheen, June 26, 1979, Nelson-Atkins Registration files, this drawing "comes direct from the Matisse family."

Published References

Henri Matisse: Aquarelles-Dessins, exh. cat. (Paris: Jacques Dubourg Gallery, 1962), unpaginated, as Bouquet et Fruits.

Donald Hoffmann, “Art Talk: New Gift,” The Kansas City Star 100, no. 53 (November 18, 1979): 5G, (repro.), as Bouquet and Fruit.

The Independent (November 24, 1979): (repro.).

Roger Ward, Dürer to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1996), 235-36, (repro.), as Still Life of Flowers and Lemons.

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