Henri Matisse | The Models

For Henri Matisse (1869-1954)🎨, his models were more than muses; they were partners in his work and guides on the ever-shifting paths to artistic expression.

He would often work with one model for an extensive period of time, beginning in 1916 with Italian model Laurette, sometimes spelled Lorette, who posed for nearly 50 paintings in the year after they met.

Matisse's longest continuous relationship was with Lydia Delectorskaya, a Russian woman who later become his secretary, studio manager and nurse to his sick wife.

Citations:

• My models, my human figures, are never like extras in an interior. They are the main theme of my work. I depend absolutely on my model...
• The model for me is a touchstone, it is a door which I must break open in order to reach the garden in which I am alone and feel good, even the model exists only for what use I can make of it.
• The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning... The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express.

Nel 1939, l’artista Francese🎨 Henri Matisse affermava:

• “l miei modelli, esseri umani, non sono mai solo un elemento secondario in un ambiente.
  Sono il tema principale del mio lavoro. Dipendo interamente dal mio modello”.

Matisse considerava le sue modelle come "le attrici" della sua arte.

Lui lavora sempre come un drammaturgo od un regista.

Iniziava una collezione di abiti per le sue modelle, si interessava alla "alta moda" -Haute couture- e selezionava il vestito secondo il modello o la composizione che doveva realizzare.

Matisse ha lavorato per anni con le stesse modelle, specialmente con la sua assistente Lydia Delectorskaya, che ricoprirà un ruolo centrale per Matisse dagli anni Trenta sino alla sua morte, nel novembre 1954.