Lot #337: HENRI MATISSE - Le visage et l'admirateur - Watercolor with gouache and ink drawing on paper

   

Artist: Henri Matisse (French, 1869 - 1954).
Title: "Le visage et l'admirateur".
Medium: Watercolor with gouache and ink drawing on paper.
Date: Composed c1940.
Dimensions: Overall size: 9 5/16 x 7 1/16 in. (237 x 179 mm).
Lot Note(s): Hand-signed lower left. Drawn on cream wove paper. Very good condition. Provenance: The work comes from the collection of Urbano Quinto and was acquired by him directly from Henri Matisse in 1953 at the Café de l’Hôtel Negresco, Nice, France. A noted Italian author, art dealer, and art collector, Quinto acquired over the years dozens of small works on paper as gifts from artists he knew, including Matisse, Warhol, Twombly, Basquiat, and Haring. The original Letter of Authenticity by Mauro Urbano pertaining to this work accompanies the lot. Comment(s): The small masculine figure in a painter’s smock, gazing at the lovely woman’s face, might well be Matisse himself. Please see the attached image of Urbano Quinto with Halston, Andy Warhol, and Bianca Jagger at Studio 54, New York City, c1977 (courtesy of and copyright © by Hasse Persson). Matisse image copyright © Succession H. Matisse, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [30394-1-1000]