A drawing made by Henri Matisse in 1938 has just resurfaced in Manosque, France after several decades. Passed down by descent to the current owner, who was unaware of the treasure she possessed, the sketch was presented to auctioneer Jennifer Primpied-Rolland about a year ago. Rolled up over a cupboard for several years, the work is now headed to auction with a six-figure estimate.
We haven't seen such a beautiful design on the market for a long time
The large sketch (65.5 by 50.5 cm), titled Portrait of Hélène Mercier, née Princess Galitzine, seated, was held by Matisse before being gifted to a nun of the Convent of the Minimals, then to the current owner by inheritance. According to the expert, its rarity is based on many elements, starting with its model, Hélène Mercier, daughter of Prince Lev Golitsyn and Helena Gagarin, who was one of Matisse's favorite muses along with Lydia Delectorskaya in the 1930s. She is found on several occasions in the painter's work, notably under the guise of odalisques, in the paintings Femme nue drapée (1936), Red dress and purple tulips (1937) and The amber necklace (1938) .
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The origin of Portrait of Hélène Mercier, née Princess Galitzine, seated dates to 1938 when American billionaire Nelson Rockefeller wanted to redesign two floors of his Manhattan penthouse, which had begun renovations four years earlier under the direction of architect Wallace K. Harrison. Asked by the businessman to commission paintings to hang over the two fireplaces in the living room, Harrison called on two famous modernists: Fernand Léger and Henri Matisse.
In October 1938, recently installed in his new apartment and studio at the Hotel Regina in Nice, Matisse set about his preliminary studies for the Rockefeller commission, as he did every time with a major project. The painter was meticulous, both in his organization and in his execution, going over every color and detail before approaching the monumental canvas.
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The final composition includes four female figures, whose bodies frame the contours of the fireplace. For the models, Matisse called on his two beloved muses, Lydia Delectorskaya and Hélène Galitzine, who posed for the four subjects which appear in the final painting. The two young women had also posed together for another painting, Le Jardin d'Hiver, produced earlier in the year. The preparatory studies for the project took place in several mediums, including painting, as evidenced by an oil in which only three women appear. First known as La Poésie, the work was renamed Le Chant, in reference to the figure at the bottom left, which seems to be humming a tune. The final project took a month to complete.
“This drawing is not only a rediscovery but above all it is of rare quality. It has been a long time since we have seen such a beautiful design on the market," expert Agnès Sevestre-Barbé said. According to her, the drawing rediscovered at Manosque could well be the first in the series of preparatory works for the great project, because Matisse always started with a charcoal drawing. "Hélène Mercier, born Princess Galitzine, seated is not only a magnificent model but she touches us with the depth of her inner gaze,” she added.
The sketch was also chosen to appear in Les Cahiers d'art (an artistic and literary magazine founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos) in 1939, alongside another portrait of Hélène Galitzine-Mercier made one day apart. and already showing Matisse's simplification of lines.
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Of great quality, signed, dated and exhibited during the great retrospective devoted to the artist at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the spring of 1948, after which it has since been lost, this sketch is extremely rare on the market.
“What is most exciting about this adventure is the Sherlock Holmes investigative work that we have been doing since the owner brought this work to us a year ago,” said the auctioneer. Jennifer Primpied-Rolland. "She had heard about our auction house during the National Expertise Days that we organize in the Ivoire Group and wanted to know what this roll of paper which had been sleeping above her cupboard for years really was."
The drawing will be presented on June 26 at IVOIRE MANOSQUE, under the hammer of Jennifer Primpied-Rolland with an estimate between 300,000 and 400,000 euros ($366,000-488,000). Though it could easily go for more: a drawing of Matisse's featuring a less famous muse recently sold for $1.7 million at Christie's.
