Artist:
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Henri Matisse Marianna Alcaforado Tériade, Paris Mourlot Freres, Paris Jourde et Allard
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Title:
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Preface page from Lettres portugaises (Portuguese Letters)
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Date:
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1946
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Medium:
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Lithographs, letterpress
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Dimensions:
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10 7/8 x 8 3/8 in. (27.62 x 21.27 cm)
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Credit Line:
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Gift of Bruce B. Dayton
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Location:
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Gallery 359
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Portuguese Letters purports to be an old autobiography by Marianna Alcaforado who, abandoned by her faithless lover the French officer, seeks refuge in a convent. The story is told in deeply emotional letters written by the despairing Marianna.
A Russian model, Doucia Retinsky, figures in the sequence of nun âportraitsâ that runs throughout the final volumeâs printed text. Whereas the nunâs expressions are often sad or resigned, Matisse counters their mood with a variety of images of abundance filling margins around the text. If we feel Mariannaâs despair, the unfulfilled passion that brims within her is also evoked in Matisseâs spirited descriptions of ripe pomegranates and other tropical fruits and flowers printed in violet ink.
Artist/Creator(s)
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Name:
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Matisse, Henri
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Nationality:
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French
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Life Dates:
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French, 1869 - 1954
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Name:
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Alcaforado, Marianna
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Role:
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Author
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Nationality:
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French
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Life Dates:
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French
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Name:
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Tériade, Paris
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Role:
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Publisher
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Nationality:
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French
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Name:
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Mourlot Freres, Paris
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Role:
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Lithographer
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Nationality:
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French
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Life Dates:
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France
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Name:
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Jourde et Allard
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Role:
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Printer
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Object Description
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Inscriptions:
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Mark Watermark:
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Classification:
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Books
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Physical Description:
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25 full page lithographs plus numerous ornaments and initials; binding: lithographic paper cover, printed in purple (unbound, loose sheets); 2nd cover beige cloth; endpapers: Arches wove; slip case: beige cloth
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Creation Place:
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Europe, France, , , Paris
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Edition:
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Edition of 250; 61/250
plus I-XX H.C. (first 80 copies have set of 12 proof studies)
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Accession #:
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B.85.4.2
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Owner:
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The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
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