''Notre-Dame, une fin d'après-midi'' ("A Glimpse of Notre-Dame in the Late Afternoon") is a painting by

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

from 1902. Its somber coloration is typical of Matisse's works executed between the end of 1901 and the end of 1903, a period of personal difficulties for the artist. This episode has been called Matisse's Dark Period.Spurling, p. 33 The work is an oil painting on paper mounted on canvas and it measures . It is in the

Albright–Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

, Buffalo, New York.

Background

Between 1896 and 1901, Matisse's painting had progressed from the subdued tones of his earliest works to an intense colorism that prefigured the Fauvism to come. In 1896 and 1897 he had traveled to

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, where the Australian painter John Russell encouraged him to paint ''

en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

''. Through Russell he met Camille Pissarro, whose influence was decisive in making a colorist of Matisse.UCLA Art Council 1966, pp. 9–10. In 1898 he traveled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where he studied the works of J. M. W. Turner; then, after a year spent in Corsica and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

, he returned to Paris, where the startling boldness of his work was admired by other young artists.UCLA Art Council 1966, p. 10 His paintings found few buyers, however, and his wife, Amélie, had to open a dress shop to support their household. In May 1902 a major financial scandal, the Humbert Affair, unexpectedly ensnared Amélie's family. Her mother (who was the Humbert family's housekeeper) and father became scapegoats in the scandal; as a result, Matisse was forced to spend much of his time during the next year dealing with lawyers and journalists. His studio was searched by detectives, and his wife's family was menaced by angry mobs of fraud victims. According to art historian

Hilary Spurling Susan Hilary Spurling CBE FRSL ( Forrest; born 25 December 1940) is a British writer, known for her work as a journalist and biographer. Early life and education Born at Stockport, Cheshire, to circuit judge Gilbert Alexander Forrest (1912–19 ...

, "their public exposure, followed by the arrest of his father-in-law, left Matisse as the sole breadwinner for an extended family of seven. This is why he switched to painting canvases that were at least potentially saleable". Inspired by Rodin and

Barye The barye (symbol: Ba), or sometimes barad, barrie, bary, baryd, baryed, or barie, is the centimetre–gram–second (CGS) unit of pressure. It is equal to 1 dyne per square centimetre. : = = = = = See also *Pasca ...

, Matisse struggled to master volume in sculpture as well as in painting. He darkened his palette, with the results seen in the present work, and in such paintings as ''Carmelina'' (1903, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

Notes

References

*Spurling, Hilary, 2005, "Matisse's Pajamas", ''The New York Review of Books'', August 11, 2005, pp. 33–36. *UCLA Art Council, Leymarie, J., Read, H. E., & Lieberman, W. S. (1966). ''Henri Matisse retrospective 1966''. Los Angeles: UCLA Art Gallery. {{DEFAULTSORT:Notre-Dame, Une Fin D'apres-Midi Paintings by Henri Matisse 1902 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Albright–Knox Art Gallery Paintings of Paris Churches in art Rivers in art Notre-Dame de Paris Bridges in art