Minneapolis Institute of Art

Girl with Fishbowl

Henri Matisse

Date

1929

Medium

Drypoint

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

To make his etchings, Matisse frequently sketched from the subject directly onto small, hand-held copper plates. He showed little interest in reworking a plate to produce different states, or printed stages, of the composition. Instead, Matisse was far more intrigued by creating independent variations of a motif. In November 1929 he produced a series of ten etchings of a female head and goldfish bowl. Matisse forced himself to approach the subject anew each time to enable him to set down all his sensory impressions. In most of these etchings, she peers at or dozes before the goldfish bowl. Here, she gazes out at the viewer. This impression is one of two rare trial proofs. Subsequently, Matisse printed this etching in a numbered edition of ten. France, Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.