Women Reading : Notes on Henri Matisse
By: Kerry Dooley Young
Tags: Matisse, History, Art, France, Painting

Henri Matisse, Paris, 1913. Photo by Alvin Coburn. Wikipedia copy of work in public domain.

In 2020, the Matisse paintings that call most to me are those that show women reading.

Books have been a great solace for us this year. How wonderful to be able to escape from the news about the needless worsening of the pandemic and the heated claims from the White House. Let me know in a comment which books provided you a refuge of some hours from the woes of 2020.

Matisse, “Reading Woman with Parasol,” 1921. Wikiart copy of image in public domain.

Matisse, “Woman Reading,” 1921. Wikiart copy of image in public domain.

Resistance Fighter

My favorite Matisse painting of a reader is the one shown below of his daughter. Marguerite (1894–1982) led quite an admirable life. She aided the French Resistance during World War II. The Gestapo imprisoned her for this 1944. She escaped during transport to a death camp and returned to her father in southern France. She took care of her father in his later years and worked to preserve his legacy after his death in 1954.

Matisse, “Portrait de Marguerite (The Reader, Marguerite lisant, La Liseuse),” 1906. Musée de Grenoble. Wikipedia copy of work in public domain.

Marguerite was one of many people whose support made Matisse the artist he was. They helped make Matisse a painter whose influences extends into our time. Matisse had the good fortune and skill to maintain productive relations with benefactors during much of his career. We’d say today that Matisse built a strong support network for himself, a good step toward success in any endeavor.

Among Matisse’s benefactors were the Cone sisters whose family had a successful textile business. Claribel and Etta Cone traveled frequently to Europe to buy paintings as major trends in modern art were taking hold. It was a great time to be a person who loved beauty and possessed a nice-sized fortune.

Claribel Cone (1864–1929) had done postgraduate research as a pathologist at Johns Hopkins University in the 1890’s. That’s where she met Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), who then was studying medicine. Stein would later become a writer and an integral part of the artistic scene in early 20th century Paris. Etta Cone (1870–1949) was an amateur musician who managed the family household. (There’s a link at the end of this essay to a bibliography that includes works used in research on Matisse and on the Cone sisters.)

Stein and her brother Leo helped the Cone sisters meet artists, musicians, and writers in Paris who would influence their taste as collectors. Among these was Matisse, who would called Etta and Claribel Cone as his “two Baltimore ladies.”

Claribel Cone, Gertrude Stein, Etta Cone, 1903. Wikipedia copy of image in public domain.

The Cone sister would eventually donate a frankly magnificent collection of paintings to the Baltimore Museum of Art, including about 500 works by Matisse. These included the vibrant example of Fauvism shown below.

Matisse, “The Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra),” 1907. Wikiart copy of image in public domain.

Don’t you love the contrast of seeing women buried under heavy skirts, which was proper custom for wealthy American ladies of the early 20th century, with the sensual lively painting they came to own?