Henri Matisse. Back (I), 1909. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund, 1952.
Henri Matisse. Back (II), 1911–13. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund, 1956.
Henri Matisse. Back (III), 1913–16. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund, 1952.
Henri Matisse. Back (IV), c. 1931. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund, 1952.
Back, 1908–09, 1911(?)–13, 1913–16, c. 1931
Matisse worked on Back over the course of 23 years. With its various states, it is, as the artist’s daughter, Marguerite, suggested in 1976, one sculpture that passed through several stages of evolution. After Back (I), Matisse began each time with a new plaster cast of the previous state: the first would remain as the work we know today—Back (I), Back (II), and so on—while the second served as the base from which he would start his new explorations.
