National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Woman Seated in an Armchair
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

Inscription

lower right: Henri Matisse 40

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by (Paul Rosenberg, Paris);[1] (Alexandre Rosenberg, New York)by 1948; sold 1950 to William Somerset Maugham [1874-1965], St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France;[2] (his sale, Sotheby's, London, 10 April 1962, no. 24); Colonel C. Michael Paul, New York; sold 15 January 1970 to Taft B. Schreiber, Beverly Hills [1908-1976];[3] his wife, Rita B. Schreiber, Beverly Hills [d. 1989]; gift 1989 to NGA.

[1] This painting was confiscated by the ERR in 1941 with others from the Rosenberg collection in France (ERR inventory card PR34, National Archives RG260/Property Division/Box 19, copy NGA curatorial files). There is confusion in the archival records as to whether picture was taken from the Rosenberg vault at Libourne or the chateau at Floirac. In the Rosenberg claim file (National Archives RG260/Box 742, copies NGA curatorial files) there are lists and correspondence from Edmond Rosenberg, brother of Paul Rosenberg, which provide conflicting information. However, it seems likely the picture was taken from Floirac, as it was this part of the Rosenberg collection assigned the code "PR." Documents from the National Archives in Washington indicate that the painting was traded by the ERR on 16 November 1943, along with a Bonnard painting from the Kann collection, to the dealer Max Stöcklin in exchange for a painting by Rudolf Alt. (Receipt for the exchange, National Archives RG260/ Box 452, copy NGA curatorial files). The picture seems to be confused throughout the archival documentation with another Matisse painting described as of a woman in a yellow chair, which also appears to have been confiscated from the Rosenberg collection. However this second picture dates from 1939, is in a vertical format, and the woman is nude. On some documents the code PR34 seems to be associated with the 1939 picture, but it is clearly the NGA painting which is described on the ERR card for PR34, and on the receipt for the exchange between Stöcklin and the ERR. Moreoever, the photographs taken by the ERR of confiscated objects illustrate the NGA picture with the code PR34. After Stöcklin, the painting was traced to the Swiss dealer André Martin, and seen on view at the Galerie Neupert in Zurich (See item no. 62 on atachment B to Douglas Cooper's "Report on Mission to Switzerland," 10 December 1945, National Archives RG239/Entry 73/Box 82, copy NGA curatorial files). The NGA picture was returned to the Rosenbergs by 1948, according to the records of the gallery, which sold it to Somerset Maugham in 1950.

[2]According to Rosenberg gallery records.

[3]Correspondence between Paul and Schreiber in NGA curatorial files.

Exhibition History

1991
Matisse Retrospective Exhibition, Nagoya City Art Museum; Hiroshima Museum of Art; Kasama Nichido Museum of Art, 1991, 164, no. 61, repro.
1995
Matisse, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1995, no. 173, repro.
1997
Henri Matisse: 'La révélation m'est venue de l'Orient', Musei Capitolini,, 1997-1998, no. 91, repro.
2007
Déja Vu? Revealing Repetition in French Masterpieces, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Phoenix Art Museum, 2007-2008, no. 63, fig. 9.
2011
Matisse: Drawing Life, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2011-2012, no. 299, repro.

Bibliography

1951
Barr, Alfred H., Jr. Matisse: His Art and His Public. New York:255, repro.
1956
Jeudwine, W.R. "Modern Paintings from the Collection of W. Somerset Maugham - II." Apollo (November 1956):139, repro.
1961
Maugham, William Somerset. Purely for My Pleasure. London, 1961:4, repro.
1997
Matisse: La révélation m'est venue de l'Orient, Exh. cat., Musei capitolini, Rome, 1997: 214, no. 91, repro.

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