Henri Matisse
Back III

Back III

© Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Back III
Back III
ArtistFrench, 1869–1954
CultureFrench
Titles
  • Back III
Date1916–1917, cast 1963
PlaceFrance
MediumBronze
Dimensions73 7/8 × 44 15/16 × 6 11/16 in. (187.7 × 114.2 × 17 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Cullen Foundation in memory of Hugh Roy and Lillie Cullen
Object number80.70
Current Location
The Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden
Sculpture Garden
Exposé

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Object Type
Description

Henri Matisse—an artist devoted primarily to painting—approached sculpture as an arena for creative experimentation. Backs I–IV comprise Matisse's only sculptural project to assume the monumentality of his major canvases.


The four sculptures were completed over a span of about 20 years. After Back I, Matisse began each subsequent version with a plaster cast from the previous one, revising the composition with additions and subtractions. Though the figure, shown from the back, is executed in high relief, the spine becomes gradually straightened and simplified. These reliefs were not conceived as a cycle, yet seen in sequence they reveal how Matisse could maintain a brilliant dialogue within his own production and the passage of time. The four Backs stand as an intimate and powerful record of the artist's studio practice, demonstrating his move from expressive naturalism to a severe Neoclassicism.


ProvenanceMarguerite G. Duthuit, Paris, until 1980; purchased by MFAH, 1980.
Exhibition History"A Century of Modern Sculpture 1882-1982," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 14, 1983– January 31, 1984.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed on far right below knee:
"HM
9/10"

and inscribed on left side of the sculpture on the bottom:
"Henri M"
Inscribed on bottom base left:
"Georges Rudier
Fondeur, Paris"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Back II
Henri Matisse
1913, cast 1979
Bronze
80.69
Back I
Henri Matisse
1909, cast 1963
Bronze
80.68
Back IV
Henri Matisse
c. 1930, cast 1964
Bronze
80.71
Meditation (Portrait of Lorette)
Henri Matisse
c. 1916
Oil on canvas
48.10
Olga Merson
Henri Matisse
1911
Oil on canvas
78.125
Image from MoMA Store Web site
Lorna Simpson
1994
Wood, ceramic, bronze, rubber, and felt, from an edition of 5000, Peter Norton Family Christmas Edition
94.725.A-.H
Polaroid from object file
Henri Matisse
Designed 1949, manufactured 1951
Wool, cotton, and jute, edition 433/500
55.95
View of Collioure
Henri Matisse
1905
Oil on laid paper mounted on paper board
62.15
Woman in a Purple Coat
Henri Matisse
1937
Oil on canvas
74.141
Quarantania I
Louise Bourgeois
1947–1953
Bronze with bronze base, ed. 4/6
85.214
Autoportrait
Henri Matisse
1927
Pen and India ink on paper
2023.113
Danseuse Couchée (Dancer Reclining)
Henri Matisse
1926–27
Lithograph on wove paper, edition 17/130
2019.649