Moorish Woman (The Raised Knee) [Femme mauresque (Le Genou levé)]

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

In the 1920s, Matisse moved away from the radicalism of his early Fauve canvases. Colors became more subdued, even naturalistic, and he began to paint the traditional academic subject of odalisques—or harem women. Popularized during the colonial era by French artists like Jean-Léon Gérôme, odalisque pictures typically embody a European fantasy of exotic, non-Western sexuality. Here, Matisse poses a European model, Henriette Darricarrère, in Moorish garb; the head scarf and masklike face seem designed to emphasize the figure's unknowability.

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