Henri Matisse with His Model

Henri Matisse with His Model 

アンリ・マティスとそのモデル

Artist
BRASSAÏ
ブラッサイ
Birth Year
1899
Death Year
1984
Date
1939 
Technique, Material, Format
gelatin silver print 
Dimension
23.6 x 28.2 cm 
Category
Photograph or Moving Image by ForeignPhotographer/Artist 
Inventory Number
82-PHF-081 

Brassai made many photographic portraits of the numerous artists and writers he associated with in Paris. In the center of this photograph is the model Lydia Delectorskaya. Artist Henri Matisse sits on the right, while a study for his painting Reader on a Black Background (1939, Centre Pompidou) is on the left. Delectorskaya worked as an assistant in Matisse’s studio, then as a secretary, and finally as a model, supporting the artist in his later years. The left side of the painting, which includes a depiction of the model fully clothed, is cut off in this photograph. Brassai seems preoccupied with a nude depicted in the middle of the painting and its correspondence with Delectorskaya’s naked body. Following the gaze of the artist, who is sitting too close to depict Delectorskaya in full, and the gaze of the photographer, we too find ourselves focused on her body.
(HIBINO Miyon)

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