Nu couché 1935

This is an ink drawing of a reclining nude by Henri Matisse, one of several he made during his career. What does it mean to see a nude in the interwar years in France, as opposed to in antiquity, or during the Renaissance? Matisse was working at a time of great shifts in social mores, when images of women were shifting from allegorical to being used in advertising. The female body was becoming increasingly sexualized. What makes this artwork different from, say, a pin-up? It's partly the cultural capital that Matisse had accrued over his long career, working in the modernist idiom. This is a work of high art, meant for contemplation, not titillation. As historians, we might look at the ways in which artistic institutions, like galleries and museums, work to create a distinction between different kinds of images. In doing so, these institutions create meaning and shape culture.