Curator, Ann Temkin: Matisse's most prolific period of making sculpture were those few years before The Red Studio.
The idea of sculpture for him was one of expressing the vitality of the female figure, not by this realistic resemblance—he's wanting to create a work of art that has its own expressive reality, its own formal force.
The view from the back is incredible. The way that the negative spaces interact—the spaces between her arms and her body, or between her two legs and the base—these are so complicated, structurally.
Writer, Siri Hustvedt: Decorative Figure is a pensive, thoughtful woman. She's thoroughly in command of her own body. Her head is stunningly erect, despite the fact that her body is leaning in one direction. She's perched, confidently, on this base. She has her hands suggestively located between her thighs, but that too has an autoerotic and confident quality to it.
Ann Temkin: We think today of the word “decoration” in a derogatory way, like “oh, that’s decorative.” The decorative arts, such as textiles or ceramics, have always had a subsidiary ranking to painting and sculpture. Also, the decorative arts have been linked with women. Matisse wanted to upend that. He used that word “decorative” in a very specific way. It was something artistic, imaginary, creative. And part of his goal with his art was to decorate and make the world more beautiful.