"My line drawing is the most direct and pure translation of my emotion. Simplification of means allows it. However, these drawings are more complete than they appear to some who assimilate them to some kind of sketches. They bring light ; [...] As soon as my moved line has modelled the light of my white sheet, without removing its touching white quality, I cannot add or take anything back anymore. The page is written: no possible corrections, I just have to start again if insufficient, like if it was acrobatics...".
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed on the back by Mrs Wanda de Guébriant, director of the Matisse Archives.
Date: 1915 Period: 20th century Origin: France Medium: Charcoal and stump on paper Signature: Signed and dated lower right : Matisse 1915
Dimensions: 75.5 x 56.5 cm (29³/₄ x 22¹/₄ inches) Provenance: Lumley-Cazalet Collection, 1984. The Waddington Galleries, London. Private collection, United States. Sale, Sotheby's, New-York, November 1997, n°142. A. Alfred Taubman, New-York.
