National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Pianist and Checker Players
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

Inscription

lower right: Henri Matisse

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Sold 21 October 1924 by the artist to (Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris); by whom sold 24 October 1924 to Georges Bernheim, Paris;[1] sold to Paul Rosenberg, Paris;[2] sold to (Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York); sold 1951 to (Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York); Alexandre Rosenberg, New York; sold c. 1977 to (Eugene Victor Thaw and Co., New York);[3] sold January 1978 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1985 to NGA.

[1] See Guy-Patrice and Michel Dauberville, Henri Matisse Chez Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1995, volume 2, no. 607.

[2] This painting was confiscated by the ERR with others from the Rosenberg collection in France in 1941 (ERR Inventory card UNB335, National Archives RG 260/Property Division/Box 22). It was selected by Hermann Goering from the Jeu de Paume, one of the six untitled paintings by Matisse from the Rosenberg collection listed as numbers 48-53 on the Nachtrag zur Liste v. 20.10.42 der für die Sammlung des Reichsmarschalls Hermann Göring abgegebenen Kunstgegenstände dated 9 April 1943 (OSS Consolidated Interrogation Report #2, The Goering Collection, Attachment 5, National Archives RG239/Entry73/Box 78) and traded 10 December 1941 to Gustav Rochlitz, in whose possession it remained until the end of the war. It was recovered in one of Rochlitz' residences in Bavaria by the Allies and transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, and restituted to France on 27 March 1946 (OSS Detailed Interrogation Report #4, Gustav Rochlitz, National Archives RG239/Entry 74/Box 84 and Munich property card #8049/15; French Receipt for Cultural Objects no. 5A, item no. 298; copies in NGA curatorial files). It was returned to Paul Rosenberg on 17 May 1946 (See letter from the Ministere des Affiares Etrangeres dated 20 February 2001 in NGA curatorial files). After its restitution, the painting was exhibited in the 1946 Les Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections privées françaises retrouvés en Allemagne par la Commission de Récupération artistique et les Services alliés, no. 53.

[3] Post-war provenance details per Henri Matisse: The Early Years in Nice 1916-1930, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, 1986, no. 129, and draft entry for forthcoming NGA systematic catalogue, in NGA curatorial files.

Exhibition History

1934
Georges Braque - Henri Matisse - Pablo Picasso from the Paul Rosenberg Collection, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1934, no. 24
1937
Les Maitres de l'art indépendant 1895-1937, Petit Palais, Paris, 1937, no. 34
1946
Les chefs-d'oeuvres des collections privées françaises retrouvés en Allemagne, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1946, no. 53
1966
Henri Matisse, UCLA Art Galleries; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966, no. 59, repro.
1975
Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1975, no. 71, repro.
1978
Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978-1979, no. 46, repro., as Checker Game and Piano Music.
1986
Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist, repro.
1986
Henri Matisse: The Early Years in Nice 1916-1930, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1986-7, no. 129, repro.
1987
Matisse et l'Italie, Assessorato alla Cultura, Venice, 1987, no. P41, repro.
1992
Henri Matisse: A Retrospective, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992-1993, no. 257, repro.
1997
Henri Matisse: 'La révélation m'est venue de l'Orient', Musei Capitolini,, 1997-1998, no. 66, repro.
2005
Henri Matisse: Figur Farbe Raum [Henri Matisse: Figure Color Space], Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2005-2006, no. 114, repro. (Düsseldorf cat.), fig. 73 (Basel/Franch cat.), fig. 77 (Basel/German cat.).
2008
Matisse: Menschen, Masken, Modelle [Matisse: People, Masks, Models], Stattsgalerie Stuttgart; Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, 2008-2009, no. 67, repro. (shown only in Stuttgart).
2009
Matisse: 1917-1941, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2009, no. 29, repro.
2011
Matisse: La seduzione di Michelangelo, Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, 2011, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1991
Gingold, Diane J. and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 104-105, color repro.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 259, repro.
1995
Dauberville, Guy-Patrice and Michel. Henri Matisse Chez Bernheim-Jeune. 2 vols. Paris, 1995:II:no. 607.
1997
Matisse: La révélation m'est venue de l'Orient, Exh. cat., Musei capitolini, Rome, 1997: 190, no. 66, repro.
1997
Mittler, Gene and Rosalind Ragans. Understanding Art. New York: 1997: 186, no. 16-1, repro.
2000
Kirsh, Andrea, and Levenson, Rustin S. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies, vol. 1. New Haven, 2000: 264
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 416, no. 347, color repro.

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