Published 1943, Paris. Limited Edition, 950.

Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954), long associated with the Fauvism, Impressionism and Abstract movements, created paintings, sculptures, theatrical sets, book illustrations and drawings throughout his life.

In 1942, after stomach surgery and a long convalescence, Matisse moved to Nice. Since he was confined to bed much of the time and forced to alter his habits, he started working - sitting in bed or in a wheelchair - on a series of drawings. To a friend he writes in mid 1941: “I am also still preoccupied with the idea of a book of reproductions of my drawings…. I want something good or I want northing at all; all the more as with the publisher Fabiani I have carte blanche.”

How important and satisfying the work on the series was for Matisse is best expressed in his own words in a letter to his daughter: “For a year I have made a very considerable effort, one of the most important of my life. I have perfected my drawing and made surprising progress, like ease and sensibility liberally expressed, with a great variety of sensations and a minimum of means. It’s like a flowering. And it’s one of the things for which I wanted to continue living. I did an abundant quantity of drawings that are completely surprising. They will be reproduced in a book…. They are made up of a series of which the initial drawing for each series is a charcoal study giving way to a series of pen or pencil drawings emerging like perfumes from the original drawing…”

The drawings in Charcoal, crayon, pencil and ink were executed in 1941-42 and published by Martin Fabiani in 1943 in an edition limited to 950 copies, under the title DESSINS: THEMES ET VARIATIONS (Drawings: Themes and Variations) and with an introduction, “Matisse-en-France,” by Louis Aragon. It consisted of 158 drawings, chosen and organized by Matisse into 17 themes with 3 to 19 variations, a frontispiece and three vignettes.

Today, 60 years after publication, few portfolios have survived. This is only the second one acquired by the gallery in sixteen years.