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The Wolf

Artist Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
Title The Wolf (Le Loup)
Plate Number Plate VI, pages 42 and 43
Series Jazz
Date 1943–1947, published 1947
Medium Color pochoir (stencil) on paper
Dimensions Image: 16 5/8 × 25 5/8 in. (42.2 × 65.1 cm)
Sheet: 16 5/8 × 25 5/8 in. (42.2 × 65.1 cm)
Portfolio: 17 1/2 × 13 3/8 × 2 1/4 in. (44.5 × 34 × 5.7 cm)
Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 65.23.6

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About this Work

Henri Matisse summarized "Jazz" in the last paragraph of his handwritten script: "These images with their lively and violent tones derive from crystallizations of memories of circuses, folktales, and voyages." It is likely that the violent folktale "Little Red Riding Hood" was on Matisse's mind when he created "Wolf", for he sent a sketch of the cutout to his publisher with a note that said, "The better to eat you with, my child." The blood-red eye, the ravenous mouth, and the tufts of fur sharpened like teeth all suggest the bite that will surely come.

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art has a complete copy of Matisse's Jazz (Eskenazi Museum of Art 65.23.1–.20) in its original slipcase bearing a personal inscription to the artist’s friend Jean Puy, a Post-Impressionist painter.


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

Publisher Tériade
Printer Edmond Vairel, Paris
Printer Draeger Frères, Paris
Plate Number Plate VI, pages 42 and 43
Series Title Jazz

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"The Wolf | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=65.23.6