Henri Matisse Ithaque, from Ulysses, 1935 is one of six illustrations that Matisse completed for an illustrated edition of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses based on the Greek epic poem The Odyssey by Homer. This etching is titled after Odysseus’s homeland, Ithaca. This symbolic landscape reflects the end of his journey, when he returns home after a decade of being lost at sea the misadventures caused along the way. Though in the story he returns home to find a plethora of suitors attempting to court his wife, Matisse instead focuses on the immaterial beauty of nature in this etching, detailing the foliage the surrounds and frames the walkway to the house that sits in the middle, imposing yet welcoming. Using different values of shading, Matisse brings depth into the surrounding trees and forest, an ephemeral quality that truly lets us reminisce on what home really means.

Created in 1953, this soft ground etching on Arches paper is hand-signed by Henri Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 1869 - Nice, 1954) in pencil in the lower right margin. Numbered from the edition of 150 in pencil in the lower left margin, this work was published by Limited Editions Club, New York.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Henri Matisse Ithaque, from Ulysses, 1935 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices accompanying the final sale of the work).

1. Duthuit-Matisse, Marguerite, Henri Matisse: Catalogue raisonné de lœuvre grave Tome I. Paris: Claude Duthuit, 1983. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 240.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Henri Matisse Ithaque, from Ulysses, 1935 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.