Buste de jeune femme 1944

Henri Matisse made this charcoal drawing in October 1944. It depicts a young woman with an elaborate headpiece, and an inscription relating to a poem by Baudelaire. This drawing was made towards the end of the Second World War, when France was still under Nazi occupation. Matisse had been living in Nice, in the south of France, and had been actively involved in the French Resistance movement, using his art to communicate anti-Nazi messages. The image might represent the spirit of resistance through the classical associations of the bust format and the inscription concerning love, but perhaps in a clandestine form. The conditions of wartime were not conducive to open expression, and so he would have had to find ways of concealing his messages. The drawing can be better understood by researching the political climate of wartime France, alongside knowledge of Matisse's activities and beliefs. The role of the historian is to piece together these different aspects and understand how they relate to the imagery.