Dimensions: object: 1899 x 1168 x 184 mm
Copyright: © Succession Henri Matisse/DACS 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Standing before us is Henri Matisse's "Back I", a bronze relief sculpture currently residing in the Tate Collections. Editor: My immediate impression is one of monumental struggle—the figure seems trapped, almost emerging from primordial ooze. Curator: Indeed. Consider the work involved in its creation: the physical labor of sculpting, the foundry’s casting process...It speaks to the industrial context of early 20th-century art production. Editor: But isn't the power also in how the figure's forms are rendered? The compressed space, the tension in the musculature—it's all about formal relationships. Curator: Absolutely, and Matisse was actively engaging with Rodin, questioning the very notion of sculpture in the context of mass-produced objects. Editor: I find myself drawn to its textures—the play of light and shadow, the way it embodies raw emotion through its formal properties. Curator: Precisely. Viewing "Back I" through the lens of labor and technique has expanded my understanding. Editor: And seeing it as a masterfully constructed form reinforces its inherent expressive power.
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The Backs were Matisse’s largest sculptures. Over twenty years he progressively refined the original pose, based on a woman leaning on a fence, until he achieved a massive simplicity. Matisse’s decision to show the back view of a woman on such a monumental scale was unorthodox. By concealing her face, he avoided the complexities of visual engagement between artist and model. This helped him to consider the nude as an arrangement of forms that he could simplify and stylise. In the final sculpture, the modelling of flesh has given way to the massing of androgynous bulk and the gently curved spine has been replaced by an abstracted plait. Although Back I had been exhibited in 1913, the series remained almost unknown until 1949–50 when the plaster Backs I, III and IV appeared in exhibitions in Paris and Lausanne. Back II was only rediscovered after Matisse’s death, while an even more naturalistic first version is now only known from a photograph. All were cast in bronze after his death. Gallery label, October 2016
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