“What interests me most is neither still life nor landscape: it is the human figure.”
—Henri Matisse

For the most part, those human figures belonged to women. From 1889 until his death in 1954, Matisse made thousands of drawings, prints, paintings, and sculptures of women. He was following a timeless tradition that also animated many of his contemporaries. This exhibition presents a varied selection of two dozen prints and drawings, primarily by French, German, and American artists, all focused on the feminine. Some of the artists intentionally introduced radical distortions into their work for expressive purposes. Matisse attempted to capture his sublimated desire for his models. Others sought to reveal the intimate or inner world of women.