Reclining Dancer
Sheet: 12 7/8 × 19 3/16 inches (32.7 × 48.74 cm)
The Feminine Mystique: Portraits of and by Women, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 27–October 8, 2006; February 9–August 12, 2013, no cat.
Encore Degas! Ballet, Fashion, and Movement, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, November 20 2021–November 21 2022, no cat.
With an economy of line, Henri Matisse captures the essential features of the dancer’s head, folded arms, and legs. This is one of a series of ten prints of a dancer named Henriette Darricarrère in moments of repose. Although known for her stamina in holding difficult poses, here Darricarrère rests her head gently on her hand.
In contrast to his simple lines for her body, Matisse added more detail to the floral, dropped-waist dress. He was perhaps inspired by his work a few years earlier designing costumes and scenery for the immensely popular Ballets Russes (Russian Ballet).
Thomas King Baker (1911–1972) and Mila Baker (née Hoover, 1916–1994), Kansas City, MO, by June 9, 1971;
Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1971.
George L. McKenna, The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Prints 1460–1995 (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in association with The University of Washington Press, 1996), 297.
Marguerite Duthuit-Matisse and Claude Duthuit, Henri Matisse : Catalgoue raisonné de l’œuvre gravé (Paris: Claude Duthuit, 1983), no. 486, pp. 2: 82–83, (repro.).
