‘LA DANSEUSE CREOLE’ BY HENRI MATISSE (OFFSET LITHOGRAPH)

A beautiful offset lithograph of 'La Danseuse Creole' (The Creole Dancer) by Henri Matisse.  Created in 1950, Matisse based the cut-out figure on Katherine Dunham, an American dancer and choreographer whose modern dance routines were influenced by dances from Africa and Haiti.  Matisse had invited Ms. Dunham to perform in his studio, and he created Creole Dancer from the sketches he made while she was dancing. The work was completed in a single day, using lead pencil markers and leftover bits of colorful cut and glued Gouache painted papers on canvas, to a finished size of 205 x 120 cm (80.7 x 47.25 inches).  In 1953, Matisse gifted the painting to Musée Matisse in Nice, and in 1965 the French Department of Tourism commissioned Mourlot Studios in Paris to create a poster using the image of 'La Danseuse Creole' to promote the Côte d'Azur and the city of Nice.  Many critics consider this to be his most innovative period. He had begun to experience severe arthritis and had a bout with can