DescriptionDuring his short career as a clerk in a law office, Henri Matisse secretly took painting classes, eventually devoting himself to the pursuit of art full-time. He went to study in Paris, first at the Académie Julian and then at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he trained in the traditional academic style of his teachers Adolphe-William Bouguereau and Gustave Moreau. Under the influence of painters such as the Impressionists and Cézanne, as well as the light-filled landscapes of the French Riviera, Matisse forsook these conservative roots and developed a new style based on flat shapes of vivid color. In 1905, he exhibited work at the Salon d'Automne in Paris as the leader of the Fauves (French for "wild beasts"). This was an avant-garde movement that reduced painting to a bright palette, simple forms, and exuberant brushwork in order to communicate the fundamental elements of reality and sensation.

Matisse painted "The Young Sailor" in 1906, at the height of his involvement with the Fauves. The sitter of this picture is an eighteen-year-old fisherman, Germain Augustin Barthélémy Montargès, from the small Mediterranean village of Collioure, near the Spanish border. Against the flat, bright pink background, Germain wears typical fisherman's garb: a navy blue cap, a pullover over a white undershirt and blue-and-pink striped jersey, baggy green pants, green-and-white checked socks, and sturdy, laced-up shoes with rubber soles. His broad face is flat and mask-like, and the contours of his rounded limbs are crisp and defined, creating a sharp contrast to the loose brushstrokes that constitute them. Germain's rather theatrical looks and the work's bold palette, in which the figure's green and blue outfit is set against the pink, candy-colored ground, combine to make this painting one of Matisse's most decorative portraits in the Fauve manner.

Signatures, Inscriptions, and MarkingsSignature: bottom left: Henri-Matisse/1906

ProvenanceThe artist (until c. 1913) Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (October 9, 1913) Leopold Zborowski, Paris (1922) J.B. Neumann, New York (1923) Hans Seligmann, Basel (1923) Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York (1952) Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, Chicago (1952) Marlborough Gallery, New York (1969) Jaques and Natasha Gelman, New York (1969)

Selected Exhibition History1908: Paris. Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées. Salon d'Automne. October 1 - November 8, no. 902.

1909-10: Odessa. Canon Uzgedchun Salon 12 debsky (Salon de la première Exposition international) December 17, 1909 - February 6, 1910, no. 396. Traveled on to Kiev, St. Petersburg and Riga.

1912: London. Grafton Galleries, "Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition." October 5 - December 31, cat. no. 36.

1913: New York. Organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, Inc. The Armory of the Sixty-Ninth Infantry. "International Exhibition of Modern Art." February 15 - March 15, 1913, cat. no. 405. Traveled on in reduced form to Chicago and Boston.

1915: New York: Montross Gallery, Henri Matisse Exhibition, January 20 - February 27, 1915, cat. no. 63.

1916: Oslo: Regional galleries. "Den franske Utstilling Kunstnerforbaudet." November - December, cat. no. 31.

1920: Barcelona. GalerÍa Dalmau. "Exposició d'Art Frances d'Avantguarda, que es celbra à les Galeries Dalmau de Brarcelona.: October 26 - November 14, cat. no 51, ill.

1930: Berlin. Moderne Galerie Thanhauser. "Henri Matisse." February 15 - March 19, cat. no. 18 (either Sailor I or II).

1931: Basel. Kunsthalle. "Henri Matisse." August 9 - September 15, cat. no. 14, ill. p. 8.

1931: New York. The Museum of Modern Art. "Henri Matisse: Retrospective Exhibition." November 3 - December 6, cat. no. 14, ill. p. 46.

1948: Philadelphia. Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Henri Matisse: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture." April 3 - May 9, cat. no. 10, ill.

1949: Lucerne. Musée des Beaux-Arts. "Henri Matisse." July 9 - October 22, cat. no. 34.

1950: Bern. Kunsthalle. "Les Fauves: Braque, Derain, Dufy, Friesz, Manguin, Marquet, Matisse, Valtat, van Dongen, Vlaminck; und die Zeitgenossen: Amiet, Giacometti, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Kirchner, Pechstein, Schmidt-Rotluff." April 29 - May 29, cat. no. 97.

1950: Milan. Palazzo Reale. "Mostra di Matisse." November 1 - 21, cat. no. 16.

1950: Venice. "La XXV Biennale di Venezia: 'Fauves.'" June 8 - October 15, cat. no. 45, ill.

1951-52: New York. The Museum of Modern Art. "Henri Matisse." November 13, 1951 - January 13, 1952, cat. no. 15. Exhibition traveled on to Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco.

1966: Los Angeles. UCLA Art Galleries. "Henri Matisse: Retrospective 1966." January 5 - February 27, cat. no. 24, ill. Traveled on to Chicago and Boston.

1966: New York: The Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse: 64 Paintings, July 18 - September 25, 1966, cat. no. 12, ill. p. 26.

1967: Washington. National Gallery of Art. "100 European Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block." May 4 - June 11, cat. no. 31, ill.

1970: Paris. Galeries National d'Exposition du Grand Palais. "Henri Matisse, exposition du centenaire." April - November, cat. no. 82, ill. p. 155.

1973: New York. Acquavella Galleries, Inc. "Henri Matisse." November 2 - December 1, cat. no. 5, ill.

1975: New York. The Museum of Modern Art. "Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse." August 4 - September 1, cat. no. 64, ill. cover, pp. 22, 87. Traveled on to Sydney and Melbourne.

1976: New York. The Museum of Modern Art. "The 'Wild Beasts': Fauvism and Its Affinities." March 26 - June 1, ill. p. 96. Traveled on to San Francisco and Fort Worth.

1989-90: New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Twentieth Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection." December 12, 1989 - April 1, 1990. London. The Royal Academy, April 19 - July 15, 1990., ill. pp. 88 and 304. Traveled on to London.

1992-93: The Museum of Modern Art. "Henri Matisse: A Retrospective." September 24, 1992 - January 12, 1993, cat. no. 90, ill. p. 165.

1993: Paris. Centre Georges Pompidou, Muséee d'Art Moderne. "Henri Matisse 1904 - 1917." February 24 - June 21, cat. no. 45 bis, ill. p. 215.

Martigny, Suisse: Foundation Pierre Gianadda, 18 juin-1 novembre 1994. de Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman, Rédaction du catalogue: William S. Lieberman, Auteur du catalogue: Sabine Rewald, Textes de: Dawn Ades, John Ashbery, Jacques Dupin, John Golding, Lawrence Gowing, William S. Lieberman, Philippe de Montebello, Pierre Schneider et Gary Tinterow. p. 113 (illus).

New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Painters in Paris 1895-1950, 8 March - 31 December 2000, p. 64, ill. in color.

Kyoto,Japan: Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, September 14-November 24, 2002; Tokyo: The Bunkamura Museum of Art, December 7, 2000 - March 9, 2003, Picasso and the School of Paris, Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. plate 9, p. 49, illus. in color.

Selected BibliographySembat, Marcel. Henri Matisse. Paris, 1920, ill. p. 31.

Schacht, Pierre. Henri Matisse. Dresden, 1922, ill. p. 30.

Gordon, Jan. Modern French Painters. New York, 1925, ill. before p. 87.

Zervos, Christian. "Henri Matisse, Notes sur la formation et le development de son oeuvre." In Henri Matisse. Paris and New York, 1931, pp. 9-32.

Schweiwiller, Giovanni. Henri Matisse. Milan, 1933, pl. 2, ill.

Fry, Roger. Henri Matisse. London and New York, 1935, pl. 7, ill.

Wilenski, R. H. Modern French Painters. New York and London, 1940, pp. 201, 233, ill. p. 198.

Swane, Leo. Henri Matisse. Stockholm, 1944, fig. II, ill.

Caspers, Frank. "Philadelphia Honors Henri Matisse with Impressive Retrospective," The Art Digest 22, No. 14, 1948, pp. 9, 34.

Art News 49, No. 5, 1950, ill. cover and p. 5

Georges-Michel, Michel, "Tra Fauves e Cubisti," La Biennale di Venezia No. 2, October 1950, ill. p. 10.

Myers, Bernard S. Modern Art in the Making. New York, 1950, pp. 2799-81, ill. p. 280.

Raynal, Maurice. Peintres du XXe siecle. Geneva, 1947, ill. p. 30.

Barr, Alfred H., Matisse: His Art and His Public. New York, 1951, pp. 82, 93-94, 97, 128, 149-50, 157, 163, 179, 194, 246, ill. p. 335.

Myers, Bernard S. "Matisse and the Fauves," American Artist 15, No. 10, 1951, p. 71, ill p. 71.

Matisse, Henri, Portraits. Monte-Crolo, 1954, ill. p. 91.

Francastel, Pierre. Du classicisme au cubisme (Histoire de la peinture francaise, vol. II). Brussels and Paris 1955, ill. p. 133.

Duthuit, Georges. Matisse: periode fauve. Paris, 1956, no. 5, ill.

Diehl, Gaston. Henri Matisse. New York, 1958, pp. 41, 101, pl. 26.

Apollinio, Umbro. Fauves e Cubisti. Bergamo, 1959, p. 60.

Lassaigne, Jacques. Matisse. Geneva, 1959, p. 60.

Crespelle, Jean-Paul. Les Fauves. Neuchatel and Greenwich, 1962, no. 8, ill.

Brown, Milton, W. The Story of the Armory Show. New York, 1963, p. 267.

Chasse, Charles. Les Fauves et leur temps. Lausanne and Paris, 1963, no. II, ill.

Seldis, Henry, J. "The Magic of Matisse," Apollo 83, No. 5, 1966, p. 252.

Leymarie, Jean. "Il Fauvismo: la Piena maturite." L'Arte moderna 3, No. 26, 1967, ill. pl 317.

Muller, Joseph-Emile. Le Fauvisme. New York and Washington, 1967, no. 36, ill. p. 52.

Gowing, Lawrence. "Introduction." Matisse 1869-1954: A Retrospective Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery (exh. cat.). London, The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1968, p. 18.

Negri, Renata. Matisse e i Fauves, Milan, 1969, pl. 38, ill. p. 64.

Ferrier, Jean-Louis. "1907: Immensite intime et simplification du tableau." Hommage a Henri Matisse, special issue of XX Siecle, 1970, ill. p. 40.

Radulescu, Neagu. Matisse. Bucharest, 1970. no. 8, ill.

Luzi, Mario and Massimo Carra. L'opera di Matisse dalla revolta 'fauve' all'intimismo, 1904-1928. Milan, 1971, pl. 14, no. 86, ill.

Aragon, Louis. Henri Matisse: A Novel. 2 vols. Translated by Jean Stewart, New York, 1972, vol. I, pl. 14, no. 86, ill. p. 88.

Daval, Jean-Luc. Journal de l'art moderne, 1884-1914. Geneva, 1973, ill. p. 195.

Russell, John. "The Birth of the Wild Beast." Horizon 18, No. 3, 1976, p. 9, ill. p. 9.

Arnason, H. H. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Rev. and enlarged ed. New York, 1977, p. 177, ill. p. 118.

Gowing, Lawrence. Matisse. New York and Toronto, 1979, p. 206, no. 42, ill. p. 59.

Carra, Massimo and Xavier Derying. Tout l'oeuvre peint d'Henri Matisse, 1904-1928. Introduction by Pierre Schneider. Paris, 1982, pl. 46, ill. p. 331.

Daix, Pierre. Le temps des revolutions: fauvisme, expressionisme, cubisme, futurisme, 1900-1914 (La grande histoire de la peinture moderne, vol. II). Paris, 1982, ill. p. 23.

Giry, Marcel. Fauvism: Origins and Development. Translation by Helg Harrison, New York, 1982, p. 149, ill. p. 141.

Noel, Bernard. Matisse. Paris 1983, no. 12.

Flam, Jack. "Matisse and the Fauves." In "Primitivism" in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern. vol. I, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, 1984, ill. p. 221.

Schneider, Pierre. Matisse. Translation by Michael Taylor and Bridget Strevens Romer, New York, 1984, pp. 28, 372, 393, 410, 414, 592, ill. p. 237.

Watkins, Nicholas. Matisse. Oxford, 1984, p. 119, ill. p. 122.

Klein, John. Review of Matisse, by Pierre Schneider, The Drawings of Henri Matisse, by John Elderfield, and The Sculpture of Henri Matisse, by Isabelle Monod-Fontaine. Art Journal 45, no. 4, 1985, pp. 360, 367.

Flam, Jack. Matisse: The Man and His Art, 1869-1918. Ithaca, New York and London, 1986, pp. 175, 178, no. 167, ill. p. 177.

Selz, Jean. Henri Matisse. Paris, 1989, ill.

Dauberville, Guy-Patrice and Michel. Matisse: Henri Matisse chez Bernheim-Jeune. Paris, 1995, no. 73, ill. p. 417.

Rubin, William, Kirk Varnedoe, and Lynn Zelevansky. Picasso and Braque: A Symposium. NY: The Museum of Modern Art, 1992. Illustrated b & w, p. 313, fig. 11