{"id":5804,"date":"2025-05-09T08:29:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T08:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/09\/exhibition-review-matisse-and-marguerite-through-her-fathers-eyes\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T08:29:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T08:29:19","slug":"exhibition-review-matisse-and-marguerite-through-her-fathers-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/09\/exhibition-review-matisse-and-marguerite-through-her-fathers-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhibition Review: \u201cMatisse and Marguerite Through Her Father\u2019s Eyes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"A<\/a>
Henri Matisse, Marguerite endormie<\/em>, 1920; Huile sur toile, 46 x 65.5 cm. Collection particuli\u00e8re \/ \u00a9 Martin Parsekian<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Henri Matisse<\/a> painted many subjects throughout his lifetime, but one he returned to again and again was his daughter, Marguerite. \u201cMatisse and Marguerite Through Her Father\u2019s Eyes\u201d at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne in Paris brings together more than 100 works (paintings along with drawings, prints, sculptures and ceramics) that capture the essence of Marguerite Duthuit-Matisse<\/a>. The museum calls her \u201clittle known,\u201d but, as exhibition co-curator Charlotte Barat-Mabille<\/a> tells Observer, \u201cMatisse depicted his daughter over a hundred times, and her portraits were exhibited in many major international exhibitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Perhaps little known, but often shown? \u201cThe fact remains that, until now, the public did not know much about her,\u201d Barat-Mabille clarifies. \u201cOne reason might be that Marguerite herself was quite a private or reserved person\u2014for instance, she only gave one interview in her lifetime, in 1970. And when the journalist began by asking whether she inspired her father,\u00a0 she dodged the question and spoke about his other models.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A\"A<\/a>
Henri Matisse, T\u00eate de fillette (Marguerite)<\/em>, 1906; Bronze, 16 x 17 x 15 cm., Paris, Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay Donation de Madame Jean Matisse \u00e0 l\u2019\u00c9tat fran\u00e7ais pour d\u00e9p\u00f4t au mus\u00e9e Matisse, Nice, 1978. Photo \u00a9 Fran\u00e7ois Fernandez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This reluctance to speak about personal matters was very much shared among the Matisse family, but it\u2019s known that Marguerite served as her father\u2019s muse and, later, his manager. She was, from childhood into her young adulthood, his most constant model\u2014the only person to appear in his work across several decades. \u201cMatisse and Marguerite Through Her Father\u2019s Eyes\u201d traces the bond between father and daughter and their mutual trust and respect. It also shines a light on Marguerite\u2019s influence on Henri\u2019s career and artistic oeuvre.<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO: The Goldfinch and the Dutch Golden Age \u2013 Remembering Carel Fabritius <\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Marguerite, the eldest of Matisse\u2019s three children, was born in 1894\u2014the result of a brief relationship between the artist, then a young painting student, and his model Caroline Joblaud<\/a>. She was legally recognized by her father and grew up alongside her half-brothers, Jean Matisse<\/a> (1899-1976) and Pierre Matisse<\/a> (1900-1989), the sons of Henri and his wife Am\u00e9lie Matisse.<\/p>\n

\"A\"A<\/a>
Henri Matisse, Am\u00e9lie Matisse and Marguerite Matisse in Collioure in 1907. Archives Henri Matisse<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While by all accounts the family was a happy one, Marguerite\u2019s younger years were marked by pain and illness. She didn\u2019t attend normal school due to poor health and became a \u201cstudio child,\u201d watching her father as he worked. At age seven, her first tracheotomy left a scar on her neck that she often concealed with a black ribbon: a distinctive feature in many of her portraits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the painting that opens the exhibition, which might have been created right after her painful tracheotomy, Marguerite\u2019s face is covered in white. She appears very pale and quite frail\u2014but at the same time, she has these very large and dark eyes looking at us with such intensity,\u201d says Barat-Mabille. \u201cIt is a very poignant painting, which says it all: she was fragile, but also incredibly strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many years later, in 1923, Marguerite married the writer Georges Duthuit<\/a> and no longer appeared as a subject in her father\u2019s paintings. However, she continued to work for him, fielding requests from collectors, historians and art dealers. She would eventually direct the assembly of the catalogue raisonn\u00e9 of his work (a task she never saw completed as it was finished a year after her death in 1982). She was an active part of the French Resistance during the Second World War and was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo but managed to escape as she was being transported to a concentration camp. Henri painted her in 1945, showing her suffering alongside her only child, Claude.<\/p>\n

\"A\"A<\/a>
Henri Matisse, Marguerite au chat noir, 1910; Huile sur toile, 94 x 64 cm., Paris, Centre Pompidou, Mus\u00e9e national d\u2019art moderne \/ Centre de cr\u00e9ation industrielle Don de Madame Barbara Duthuit en m\u00e9moire de Claude Duthuit, 2013. \u00a9 Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist.GrandPalaisRmn \/ Georges Meguerditchian<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of the rare works on view in this chronologically organized exhibition include Marguerite with a Black Cat<\/i>, completed in 1910, in which she is posed in a blue dress against a green background. It\u2019s a painting that Henri never wanted to sell. \u201cLike many artists, Matisse was well aware of the importance of certain paintings; he knew that it was one of the most beautiful portraits he had ever created and one of the most radical as well,\u201d co-curator Isabelle Monod-Fontaine<\/a> tells Observer.<\/p>\n

Matisse showed the painting in several exhibitions,\u00a0 including at the original Armory Show (the \u201cInternational Exhibition of Modern Art\u201d) in 1913. \u201cBut for him, there was certainly the sentimental value attached to this magnificent image, created after his daughter,\u201d Monod-Fontaine adds. But other works featuring Marguerite were sold, like Marguerite Reading<\/i>, and of course, Henri Matisse had other models. Another rare work on view here is Chapeau de Roses<\/i>, a portrait of Am\u00e9lie Matisse from 1914.<\/p>\n

Marguerite endormie<\/i>, painted in \u00c9tretat in 1920 and now part of the collection of the Norton Museum of Art \u201chas not been shown in France for decades, if ever,\u201d Monod-Fontaine says. \u201cSame for the three paintings lent by the Baltimore Museum of Art. And also Marguerite en manteau \u00e9cossais<\/i>, lent by a private collection.\u201d For fans of the artist, the exhibition may represent a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see certain pieces usually hidden away in American, Swiss and Japanese collections. \u201cMost of the works on paper coming from private collectors are also being shown in France for the very first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>Matisse and Marguerite Through Her Father\u2019s Eyes<\/b><\/a>\u201d is at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne in Paris through August 24, 2025.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"A\"A<\/a>
Henri Matisse, Marguerite<\/em>, 1906; Huile sur toile, 64.5 x 80.3 cm., Mus\u00e9e de Grenoble Legs Agutte-Sembat, 1923. Ville de Grenoble \/ Mus\u00e9e de Grenoble-J.L. Lacroix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Henri<\/p><\/div>\n