Exhibition : 'Matisse and Etta Cone" in Baltimore

This fall, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present the first comprehensive exhibition exploring the singular 43-year friendship between the Baltimore collector (1870)1949) and French modern master Henri Matisse (1869-1954).

Their relationship laid the foundation for the BMA's Matisse collection, which, with more than 1,200 paintings and works on paper, is the largest public collection of the artist's work in the world.

'A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore' will include more than 160 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and illustrated books that show how Etta Cone's connection with the artist provided her with a sense of identity, purpose, and freedom from convention.

These include such masterpieces as The Yellow Dress (1929-31) and Great Reclining Nude (1935), rarely shown drawings, and the preliminary studies for his first illustrated book, Poems of Stéphane Mallarmé (1932).

The works in the exhibition are generally arranged by date of acquisition, reflecting Cone's increasing insight into Matisse's work throughout their long collaboration.

The fully illustrated catalog that accompanies the exhibition contains new information on the formal, technical, and social aspects of this decades-long collaboration between artist and patron.