THE MATISSE FAMILY TREE
The collection of Jacquelyn Miller Matisse embodies the artistic legacy of one of art history’s most important and interesting families. Passed down through three generations, the collection represents the remarkable career of Henri Matisse, as well as other members of this legendary family, including Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon. The Matisse Legacy begins at the top of the family tree with the grandfather of Modern Art, Henri Matisse. With his wife Amelie, the Matisse’s had two sons, Jean in 1899 and Pierre in 1900. Before marrying, Matisse had a daughter with Caroline Joblau named Marguerite Matisse who married Georges Duthuit. Duthuit was a writer and art critic who wrote extensively on Matisse, and was closely associated with the Surrealists, particularly André Masson. Of the three Matisse children, it was Pierre who made the largest contribution to the family’s art world legacy. Moving to New York, in 1924, Pierre opened the Pierre Matisse Gallery in the Fuller Building on 57th Street and would run it until his death in 1989. The gallery was influential in bringing European Modern Art and artists to New York, often for the first time, including Miro, Chagall, Dubuffet, Tanguy and the British modernist Reg Butler. Pierre Matisse married Alexina Sattler in 1929. Together the couple would have three children before they divorced: Jacqueline, Paul and Pierre-Noel, who was known as Peter. Alexina, who was called “Teeny”, went on to marry Marcel Duchamp in 1954, thus bringing the Duchamp family into the Matisse family fold. Three of Marcel Duchamp’s siblings were artists: Jacques Villon who played a seminal role in the development of Cubism; Cubist sculptor Raymond Duchamp-Villon; and Dadaist Suzanne Duchamp. In 1949, Pierre Matisse married his second wife, Patricia Kane Matta, the former wife of Surrealist painter Roberto Matta, adding another interesting limb to the family tree.
Jacquelyn Miller married Henri Matisse’s grandson, Pierre Matisse’s son, Peter, and together the two travelled the world as representatives of the Matisse family. The collection of Jacquelyn Miller Matisse represents the breadth of the family’s artistic output and their influential place in the history of modern art. Works in the collection were inherited from both of Peter’s parents, Pierre Matisse and Teeny Matisse Duchamp. Highlights in the sale include works on paper by Matisse, Miro, and Villon, and a large selection of Pierre Matisse Gallery books and catalogues that represent the legacy of the Matisse family.
Time & Location
The Matisse Legacy: Works Formerly in the Collection of Jacquelyn Miller Matisse on Thursday, October 20 at 11am