The seductive siren call of the fashion and beauty industry has long fascinated Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury, who has explored the subversion of status symbols and the link between fashion and desire in works which consider the consequences of materialism. Since the 1990s, Fleury has recontextualised familiar items, rethinking art’s role as a commodity and referencing works from the male art history canon including works by Frank Stella, Jean Dubuffet and Piet Mondrian. Now, Fleury is acknowledging the influence Henri Matisse has had on her oeuvre, creating work in response to and in dialogue with the French artist in her new London exhibition:. ‘Drawing on Matisse’ at Luxembourg + Co. sees Fleury present new works alongside drawings and cut-outs by Matisse, some of which are being presented in public for the first time.
Motif – feuille, c1950, by Henri Matisse
Drawn to Matisse’s spare, clean outlines of the female form, Fleury has selected his works which graze the body’s silhouette and eschew detail for a minimalist, idealistic representation of a woman’s body. In her selection of Matisse’s work, Fleury zones in on this compartmentalisation, showcasing his pieces which distort the female figure in hypnotic multiplications of body parts such as eyes, lips or hands, or in a disorienting mesh of the fore- and background.
She responds to this stylistic mood in new works which also consider body parts as a disparate entity, delicately dismembering the female form. Echoing the stereotypically feminine aesthetic associated with Matisse, here we have a pair of slender legs emerging from the wall, crossed delicately at the knee, or rippling, defined torsos, a direct acknowledgment of the influence Matisse has had on her own work.
'Drawing on Matisse, An Exhibition by Sylvie Fleury’ is on show until 2 May at Luxembourg + Co
A version of this article appears in the April 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on international newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
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