Muse for Matisse
by Barbara McMahon
Title
Muse for Matisse
Artist
Barbara McMahon
Medium
Painting - Acrylic On Canvas
Description
This acrylic painting was commissioned by a patron of mine who loves Matisse and especially Matisse's paintings of Lydia, his muse. Matisse painted over 90 variations of Lydia. This is my version.
Lydia Nikolaevna Délectorskaya (June 23, 1910 Tomsk,16 March 1998 Paris) was a Russian refugee and model best known for her collaboration with Henri Matisse from 1932 onwards.Barely surviving, in 1932, she found temporary work with the Matisses, first as a studio assistant, then as a domestic help. Matisse's wife Amélie had become an invalid. It was three years before the painter asked her to sit for him. Lydia was 25, Matisse 65, and with Matisse having an avuncular attitude to the young woman, she wrote:
Gradually I began to adapt and feel less 'shackled,'... in the end, I even began to take an interest in his work.Her close working partnership with Matisse drew an ultimatum from his wife of 40 years, "It's her, or me!" and Matisse chose his wife who left anyway in 1939. After he sacked her, Delectorskaya tried to shoot herself in the chest. At his request, she returned to help in the studio in Paris where both were caught up among people fleeing the city after war was declared with Germany. She said,
A decision had to be made there, as to whether or not he was to take me with him. She was his great muse, model, manager and companion, staying by his side for the rest of his life.
Thank you for viewing. Barbara McMahon
Uploaded
September 23rd, 2016
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