Oh darlings, Odalisques

The quiet sexuality of Matisse's Odalisques! The beauty of form, the calmness of flesh, the centrality of woman!

This post was inspired by a little answer I gave on Google+ to somebody talking about the figure of the Odalisque in Matisse's paintings.

But I wanted to add more of my own thoughts, and that little reply did not serve the purpose, since it was a little old. So here I go again, Matisse paintings my guide, as almost always.

Grand Odalisque a la culotte bayarde
via www.natashabarr.com

Odalisque with red culottes
via www.artchive.com

Odalisque
via www.henri-matisse.net

The great thing about these lascivious, inviting creatures is the extent to which they blend with the context. The texture of the painting is so complex, so decorative, the patches of flesh surprise the eye. You rest your eyes on the woman flesh with the pleasure of having found a spot of calmness. A true tribute to woman's body.
Then what's equally fascinating is the realism of almost all Matisse settings and of his forms. He took pains at arranging the subject in a context that was then reproduced in detail. When that was not the case, he placed the bodies in those intriguingly Matisse-esque forms that undulate and flow across the canvas like water.

We have, for this, the testimony of George Brassai's photographs. They captured Matisse painting, drawing, but almost always contemplative at the same time: as if daydreaming.

Brassai captured the attention of both artist and model
via www.modebulb.com

I love this entire series of images focused on Matisse's work on nudes (like the Odalisques, of course). Photographs by George Brassai, Cartier Bresson, and Man Ray, among others. They view the artist in the plenitude of his own statement:

"My models are not some pieces of pottery in a room. They are the main theme of my work. I am entirely dependent on my models."

You could tell it from how they sit, how they capture light, how they encapsulate form. Even an untrained eye can see how these attributes migrate to the Matisse cutouts representing woman forms.

But more about this in a future post.