Portrait of Léonide Massine

Prints and Drawings

April 28, 1920

Henri Matisse
French, 1869-1954

Massine (1895-1979) was chosen when still in his teens by Diaghilev to become the leading male dancer and choreographer of the Ballets Russes in the company’s middle period (1914-21). Early in his career, Massine collaborated with Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie and Pablo Picasso on the 1917 ballet Parade. Matisse’s portrait of Massine was drawn during the preparation of Massine’ s ballet Le chant du Rossignol, for which Matisse designed the sets and costumes.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Henri Matisse
Title: Portrait of Léonide Massine
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1920
Medium: Graphite, with erasing on ivory wove paper, fixed
Inscriptions: Signed recto, lower right, in graphite; "Henri-Matisse"; inscribed lower right, in graphite: "28 avril 1920. Monte Carlo"
Dimensions: 39.7 × 28.8 cm (15 11/16 × 11 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Samuel A. Marx Purchase Fund
Reference Number: 1972.427
Copyright: © 2025 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Richard Buckle, In Search of Diaghilev (New York, 1956), no. 32 (ill.).
Gary Tinterow, Master Drawings by Picasso exh. cat. (Cambridge, Mass, 1981), p. 243 (ill.), fig. 27.
John Klein, Matisse Portraits (New Haven, Conn, 2001), p. 136 (ill.), fig. 97.
“Portrait of Léonide Massine,” in Matisse Paintings, Works on Paper, Sculpture, and Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Stephanie D’Alessandro (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2019), cat. 32, https://publications.artic.edu/matisse/reader/works/section/24/24_anchor.

New York, Marie Harriman Gallery, “Collection of Leonide Massine,” February 18-March 9, 1935, cat. 18.
Edinburgh, College of Art, Edinburgh Festival, “The Diaghilev Exhibition,” August 22–September 12, 1954, pp. 33, 48 (ill.), cat. 490; travelled to London, Forbes House, Portrait Gallery, November–January 16, 1955, p. 29, cat. 498.
The University of Chicago, Joseph Regenstein Library, “The Diaghilev Ballet Russes, 1909-1929,” June 26-November 15, 1975.
Chicago, Arts Club, “Sixty Years on the Arts Club Stage: A Souvenir Exhibition of Portraits,” November 17, 1975–January 3, 1976, pp. 12 (ill), 43, cat. 58.
London, Hayward Gallery, “The Sculpture and Drawings of Henri Matisse,” October 4, 1984–Janary 6, 1985, pp. 178 (ill.), 264, cat. 58; travelled to New York, Museum of Modern Art, February 27–May 14, 1985.
Bielefeld, Germany, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, “Picasso Klassizismus: Werke von 1914–1934,” April 17–July 31, 1988, pp. 314 (ill.), cat. 16a.
London, Tate Gallery (organizer), “Matisse Picasso,” 2002-2003, p. 183 (ill.), cat. 84; shown in New York, Museum of Modern Art, February 12–May 27, 2003.

Given by the artist to Leonide Massine (1896–1979), Paris, April 1920 [London 1971]; sold, Sotheby’s, London, July 7, 1971, lot 89, to Douglas Cooper [sale catalogue addendum]. Sold by E.V. Thaw and Company New York, to the Art Institute, 1972.

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