Seated Nude, Light Version (Petit Bois clair) 1906

Henri Matisse created this lithograph, Seated Nude, Light Version, using black ink on paper. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the female nude was a conventional subject in academic art, often idealized and passive. Matisse, however, used the nude to explore line, form, and the emotional possibilities of representation. As a white male artist, Matisse was working within a tradition that often objectified women's bodies. Considering this context, the simple, unadorned representation of the nude in this print allows us to consider the politics of looking, and how artists can perpetuate or challenge norms of the time. Matisse once said that he dreamed of an art "exempt from troubling subject matter." This statement can be hard to reconcile with the reality that art is always connected to its cultural moment, and is never truly neutral. Through stark lines and the interplay of light and shadow, Matisse prompts us to reflect on the complex relationship between artist, model, and viewer. The print asks us to think about the emotional and psychological dimensions of viewing and being viewed.