Bronze
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henri-matisse-1593" aria-label="More by Henri Matisse" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Henri Matisse</a>
Reclining Nude II
Purchased 1953
actions: postures and motions
adults
arm / arms raised
female
nudes
people
reclining
sensuality
sex and relationships
society
woman
<p>This small sculpture is part of a series in which the female nude is treated with increasing abstraction. The reclining figure takes up the languid pose of the odalisque, a traditional view of the female nude, which Matisse regularly used in his paintings and drawings. A balance is struck between the sensual, relaxed curves and the robust form of the supporting arm and shoulder.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2011</em></p>
sculpture bronze
11 May 2002 – 18 May 2003
2003-05-18
11 May 2002 – 18 August 2002
2002-08-18
2002-05-11
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
12 February 2003 – 18 May 2003
2003-05-18
2003-02-12
Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA)
2002-05-11
Matisse Picasso
Exhibition
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
2003-06-21
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2003-06-21
International Modern Art
Collection based display
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
2007-09-15
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2007-09-15
Bathers
Collection based display
23 November 2011 – 27 September 2015
2015-09-27
23 November 2011 – 27 September 2015
2015-09-27
2011-11-23
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2011-11-23
The Reclining Nude
Collection based display
17 April 2014 – 9 February 2015
2015-02-09
16 April 2014 – 7 September 2014
2014-09-07
2014-04-16
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2014-04-17
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs
Exhibition
20 November 2015 – 1 May 2016
2016-05-01
20 November 2015 – 1 May 2016
2016-05-01
2015-11-20
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2015-11-20
Matisse The Snail
Collection based display
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
5 November 2016 – 5 February 2017
2017-02-05
2016-11-05
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
18 March 2017 – 16 July 2017
2017-07-16
2017-03-18
Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand)
11 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
2018-02-04
2017-08-11
Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
24 March 2018 – 24 June 2018
2018-06-24
2018-03-24
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
18 November 2020 – 28 November 2021
2021-11-28
18 November 2020 – 28 November 2021
2021-11-28
2020-11-18
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2020-11-18
Whose Tradition?
Collection based display
Reclining Nude II
object: 283 × 495 × 149 mm
Purchased 1953
<p>This small sculpture is part of a series in which the female nude is treated with increasing abstraction. The reclining figure takes up the languid pose of the odalisque, a traditional view of the female nude, which Matisse regularly used in his paintings and drawings. A balance is struck between the sensual, relaxed curves and the robust form of the supporting arm and shoulder.</p>

Display caption
2011-11-22T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<div class="text">
<p>
<b>N06146</b> Nu couché, 2me Etat (Reclining Nude, II) 1927 </p>
<p>Inscribed 'NG' and founder's stamp 'CIRE | G.VALSUANI | PERDUE' on back of left elbow </p>
<p>Bronze, 11 1/8 x 19 ½ x 5 7/8 (28.3 x 49.5 x 15) on marble base; height including base 12 ½ (32) </p>
<p>Purchased from Gérald Cramer (Knapping Fund) 1953 </p>
<p>Prov: With Gérald Cramer, Geneva (purchased from the artist 1952) </p>
<p>Lit: Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Matisse: his Art and his Public (New York 1951), pp.217-8, 545, repr. p.457 under the incorrect title 'Reclining Nude, III'; Albert E. Elsen, The Sculpture of Henri Matisse (New York 1972), pp.155-9, repr. p.156 </p>
<p>This pose first appeared in Matisse’s work in reverse (body lying to the right instead of to the left) in paintings such as 'The Joy of Life' 1905-6 and 'The Blue Nude' 1907, and in the sculptures 'Reclining Figure with Chemise' 1906 and 'Reclining Nude, I' 1907. </p>
<p>About twenty years later, Matisse took up the pose again this way round in this sculpture and in another related piece 18.5cm high in which the body is set lower, the breasts and hips flattened out and the arms diminished. When exhibited at the Maison de la Pensée Française in 1950, they were entitled respectively 'Reclining Nude, III' and 'Reclining Nude, II'. The following year, however, in reply to a questionnaire from Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the artist stated definitely that the present work was the earlier and should be listed as 'II'. It is in fact much closer in design to 'Reclining Nude, I'; also this sequence shows a  progressive abstraction in keeping with that of the series of reliefs 'The Back'. Elsen dates the present work 1927 and the later version 1929. A photograph of Matisse at work on 'Reclining Nude, III' in his studio at Nice is reproduced in the exhibition catalogue Henri Matisse, Galerien Thannhauser, Berlin-Lucerne, 1930, and is stated to have been taken in 1929. </p>
<p>This work is being cast in an edition of ten bronzes. </p>
<p>
<b>Published in: </b>
<br/>Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.499, reproduced p.499</p>
</div>

Catalogue entry
2021-07-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults arm / arms raised female nudes people reclining sensuality sex and relationships society woman