A rare lithograph featuring Henri Matisse’s ‘La Danseuse Créole’

In 1965, the French Tourism office commissioned this rare lithographic poster as part of a promotional campaign to increase tourism in the South of France. Featuring Henri Matisse’s vibrant cut-out ‘La Danseuse Créole’, the poster advertises the Musée Matisse in Nice, which opened two years earlier.

Matisse first visited the city in 1917 and instantly fell for the blue skies and endless sunshine. Immediately, he began living there for six months of the year, every year, for the rest of his life. Recognised as his ‘Nice period’, it was in this city overlooking the Mediterranean where he created many important bodies of work, including still-lives, interiors, nudes, odalisques, and his later, colossal cut-outs.

In his later years, Matisse donated a generous body of work to the city, which expanded further when after his death in 1954, the artist’s heir made a second donation.

After searching for an exhibition space to house the invaluable collection, the city acquired the villa Garin de Cocconato, also called ‘Villa des Arénes’ when it became available in 1950. Located a stone’s throw away from the painter’s residence at the Regina Hotel, it was the perfect location to house Matisse’s many masterpieces.

From 1937, Matisse travelled to Paris frequently to the historic Atelier Mourlot – famed for its development of the lithographic print process into a true artist’s medium. Matisse was one of the first artists to be invited by Fernand Mourlot to the studio. He became fascinated by the lithographic process, and worked long hours experimenting with the possibilities of the medium.

Combining these two important locations of Matisse’s creative journey in the north and south of his home country, the collaboration between the City of Nice and Atelier Mourlot to produce this exquisite lithograph is a particularly poignant homage to the pioneering artist.