To help in solving his recurring problem of relating the human figure to a flat background, Matisse executed three life-size reliefs known as The Back I-III (1909, 1913 and 1916). The series of four reliefs which we have become accustomed to see presented together, however, had perhaps not meant to be seen as such by Matisse. As told to Alfred Barr (for writing the monograph published in 1951), he simply forgot the existence of Nu de dos, second state (Back II). This plaster, which remained in his house in Nice, was found after the death of Matisse. All four reliefs were not cast in bronze and displayed as "series" until two years after his death, in 1956, in the retrospective exhibition organized by Jean Cassou. (Source: Centre Pompidou [website]; http://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/)
work_description_source
To help in solving his recurring problem of relating the human figure to a flat background, Matisse executed three life-size reliefs known as The Back I-III (1909, 1913 and 1916). The series of four reliefs which we have become accustomed to see presented together, however, had perhaps not meant to be seen as such by Matisse. As told to Alfred Barr (for writing the monograph published in 1951), he simply forgot the existence of Nu de dos, second state (Back II). This plaster, which remained in his house in Nice, was found after the death of Matisse. All four reliefs were not cast in bronze and displayed as "series" until two years after his death, in 1956, in the retrospective exhibition organized by Jean Cassou. (Source: Centre Pompidou [website]; http://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/)
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