Crouching Nude, Eyes Lowered (Nu accroupi les yeux baissés)

Crouching Nude, Eyes Lowered (Nu accroupi les yeux baissés) is a significant lithograph created by Henri Matisse in 1906. This work, classified as a print, focuses intensely on the human form, depicting a female figure in a tight, internal pose that exemplifies the artist's dedication to mastering structure through draftsmanship. The figure is shown with her back to the viewer, knees drawn up to her chest, and her head sharply bent downward. This closed composition lends the piece a profound sense of intimacy and introspection.

Produced during a transitional phase in the French artist’s career, immediately following his highly influential Fauvist period, this print demonstrates Matisse's ongoing reliance on black-and-white media to refine form, even as he was simultaneously moving toward radical color experimentation in his paintings. As a lithograph, the technique allowed Matisse to achieve subtle tonal shifts and deep, velvety blacks characteristic of the medium. The work is defined by its masterful contour line, which outlines the figure’s form with elegant economy.

Matisse utilizes delicate cross-hatching to model the volume of the body, particularly along the spine and limbs, suggesting mass and depth through controlled variations in shading. Large areas of the composition are left untouched, maximizing the dramatic contrast between the illuminated skin and the deep shadows. This detailed, classical approach to draftsmanship confirms the artist's foundational training and his commitment to developing a pictorial language based on confident, disciplined lines.

The year 1906 was pivotal for Matisse, marking his shift from the explosive expressionism of Fauvism toward the more structurally rigorous, classical depictions of the nude that would characterize his later work. The disciplined execution of this piece provides essential insight into the preparatory steps the artist took to simplify and monumentalize the human figure. This important example of Matisse’s early graphic output resides within the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).