725. HENRI MATISSE. Eva Mudocci - Masque.

Etching, 1915 on Chine appliqué, signed in pencil and inscribed with a dedication 'à Mlle Eva Mudocci respectuesement Henri Matisse épreuve d'essai'. Duthuit notes that only two proofs (épreuves d'état) were printed of this extremely rare etching. This is possibly one of the two proofs, or a third proof d'essai not mentioned by Duthuit. No numbered edition was ever printed.
P. 18 x 12,8 cm.
S. 37,5 x 28,2 cm.

PROVENANCE:
Eva Mudocci (1872-1953), a personal gift from the artist.
Fritzes Kungliga Hovbokhandel, Stockholm.
Galleri Nordqvist, Malmö. Acquired from the above in 1955 (80 kr), thence by descent.

LITERATURE:
Duthuit 65.

The famous violinist Eva Mudocci was born in England in 1872 as Evangeline Muddock, and died in 1953 after an extraordinary life.

Mudocci, was a child prodigy who took to the stage at an early age, performing regionally and nationally in England. Her path eventually took her to Europe, where she met a pianist named Bella Edwards, also born in England but raised in Denmark. The two of them lived and performed together throughout Europe for the next half decade. Based in the Left Bank of Paris, they were part of the rich cultural and artistic scene that included everyone from Gertrude Stein to Frederick Delius, to Henri Matisse, who executed the rare etching now offered for sale (Duthuit 65), two drypoints (Duthuit 66 and 67), and three drawings of her. Their circle included Edvard Munch who also portrayed Mudocci in three lithographs, 1903 ("Violin Concert", portraying both Bella Edwards and Mudocci; "The Brooch. Eva Mudocci"; and "Salome").

Most people assumed that Mudocci and Edwards had a lesbian relationship. One of those observers was Jappe Nilssen, a Norwegian living in Paris whom Shore describes as “among Munch’s oldest friends.” Nilssen took it upon himself to be concerned about what he perceived as Bella Edwards’s “hold” on Mudocci and wrote to Munch asking him to “pay attention to Eva, flirt with her a little, so that perhaps her feelings may become more natural.”

What could go wrong with that plan? Munch and Mudocci did become acquainted and formed a long, intimate, and tortured relationship. Mudocci eventually gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Mudocci never named the father.

(Shore, Rima; "Lady with a Brooch. Violinist Eva Mudocci a Biography and a Detective Story", 2019).