Odalisque OD

You know a labor of love when you see it, and "Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony," now on view at Acquavella counts as two: a French artist's adoration of the fair sex and an émigré family's devotion to re-kindling his flame. I say devotion because none of the painter's works are for sale; the nearly 50 works on view have been borrowed from private collectors (mostly anonymous) or museums. More than a few haven't been seen by the public since they were painted, which explains the lines in front of the East 79th Street gallery.

"Odalisque à la robe rayéeAll" (1937)

Matisse, along with frenemy Pablo Picasso, a decade younger, were both favorites of Gertrude Stein, who attributed the popularity of her early 20th century salons to a desire among Parisians to view his latest work. Unlike Picasso, however, he declined to paint her.

"L'Idole" (1906)

Apparently, neither Ms. Landsberg nor her Brazilian family, who commissioned this striking portrait, which had gone from traditional to radical after multiple sittings, liked the completed work enough to purchase it. 

Mademoiselle Yvonne Landsberg (1914)

When Matisse was "blocked" from expressing himself with a paintbrush, he sculpted. Late in life, after cancer confined him to a wheelchair, he turned to paper cut-outs or decoupage.

"Figure décorative" (1908)

His use of intense color established him as a co-leader of the Fauvists, or "wild beasts" with André Derain.

"L'Artiste et le modèle nu" (1921)

In 1913, Matisse returned from a seven-month sojourn to Morocco with a passion for the odalisque.

"Odalisque couchée aux magnolias" (1923)

"Odalisque au tambourin" (1925-26)

"Odalisque allongée" (1926)

"Odalisques jouant aux dames" (1928)

Matisse, who had contemplated fleeing to Brazil before the Nazis invaded Paris, spent the war years in Nice where he had lived since 1917. Vichy France exploited his decision to stay put for propaganda purposes.

"Elena" (1937)

"L'Odalisque, harmonie bleue" (1937)

"Odalisque en manteau rouge" (1937)

"Vase d'anémones" (1946)

Back to the Acquavellas. They're playing the long game, as they have since patriarch Nicholas arrived in the United States from Naples during the Roaring Twenties and established a gallery specializing in Italian art, including Renaissance masters. His son Bill added post-Impressionists, including Matisse, Cubists and Surrealists in the 60s. Since 1980, works by post-war and contemporary artists, such as Lucian Freud, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat have hung in the townhouse gallery Bill purchased from Norton Simon. Simon also sold him the Matisse odalisque that opens this post. A third generation-- a daughter and two sons--now have begun selling art to private collectors and museums, a family business lucrative as it is tasteful.  Nice work if you can get it!

"Jeannette III" (1911)