Matisse and his Model at the Villa D'Alésia

Brassaï

1939 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

Lydia Delectorskaya met Henri Matisse in Nice in 1932 and became his primary model, muse, secretary, studio assistant, and close friend until his death in 1954. Here, at age seventy, Matisse paints her in the charming Paris studio lent to him by the American sculptor Mary Callery. Although it was well planned, this small photograph by Brassaï pretends to be a straightforward report of a private, unrehearsed moment. It recalls the painter’s thoughts on his own process: “The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning. . . . The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express.”

Artist

Brassaï

Date

1939

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987