Henri Matisse Composition Issy-les-Moulineaux, 1915

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This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

Alphonse Kann (1870–1948), Saint-Germain-en-Laye, by 1931 [1]; confiscated during the Nazi occupation by the ERR (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg), October 1940 [2]; traded by the ERR to Gustav Rochlitz in exchange for an Old Master painting acquired for the Hermann Goering collection, February 9, 1942 [3]; sold to Paul Petrides, Paris [4]. Returned with the help of Henri Matisse to Alphonse Kann, London, 1946 [5]; by inheritance to his friend Michael Stewart (1918-1983), London, 1948 [6]; sold through Arthur Tooth & Sons, Ltd., London, 1951. Fernand C. Graindorge (1903-1985), Liège, 1951 [7]; to Marcel Mabille, Brussels, by 1956 [8]; sold to Stephen Hahn (1921-2011), New York, by 1981 [9]; sold through Acquavella Galleries to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1997 (Gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Nelson Rockefeller Bequest, gift of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Weintraub, and Mary Sisler Bequest [all by exchange]).

[1] Lender to the exhibition Henri-Matisse, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, June 1- July 25, 1931, no. 28( (Le Rideau jaune).
[2] The painting was stored at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. ERR inventory card KA 1061: Komposition in Blau und Gelb.
[3] One from a group of seven paintings (one by Leger, two by Braque, two by Matisse, one by Picasso, and one by de Chirico) exchanged by the ERR for one painting by the "School of the Master of Frankfurt." See OSS DIR #4 Gustav Rochlitz, ERR #13, pp. 7-8, no. 16 (View Through a Window), RG260 NARA M1946. OSS CIR# 1, exchange #13, no. 5, RG260 NARA M1946. See also contract between the ERR (Kurt von Behr) and Gustav Rochlitz, February 9, 1942, no. 5 (OSS CIR #2, NARA RG260 M1946).
[4] See OSS DIR #4 Gustav Rochlitz, ERR #13, pp. 7-8, RG260 NARA M1946.
[5] See letter Henri Matisse, Nice to Fernand Graindorge, Liège, October 24, 1951 (Matisse Archives, Paris). The painting was included in the exhibition Paintings by Picasso and Matisse, organized by the Association française d'action artistique and the British Council at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, December 1945 (no. 23: Fenêtre sur le jardin. 1919 [sic]/Window overlooking the garden). The exhibition catalogue lists the painting among loans from the Musée national d'art moderne. See also Madeleine Korn, "New Research on a Collector: Alphonse Kann and Michael Stewart," Nancy Yeide at al., Vitalizing Memory: International Perspectives on Provenance Research, Washington: American Association of Museums, 2005, pp. 110-111.
[6] Date of consignment: December 12, 1950 (Arthur Tooth & Sons stock inventories and accounts, 1871-1959, Series II, Box 21, ledger no. 8104, Getty Archives, Los Angeles).
[7] See letter Henri Matisse, Nice to Fernand Graindorge, Liège, October 24, 1951 ( Matisse Archives, Paris). On loan from Graindorge to the exhibitions Matisse, Grande sale des expositions de La Réserve, Knokke-le-Zoute, July 12-August 31, 1952, no. 18 (Le rideau chamois); Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'art ancien dans les musées et collections belges, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, May 29-June 24, 1953; and Collection Fernand Graindorge, Kunsthalle Basel, August 28-October 3, 1954.
[8] Per Dominique Fourcade, ed., Henri Matisse 1904-1917, exh. cat. Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1993, no. 124. Lender to the exhibition Henri Matisse, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, July 27-November 18, 1956, no. 37 (La fenêtre).
[9] Collection files 355.1997, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Per Fourcade 1993, Hahn acquired the painting in "1979 or 1980."

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