Silenced images. Lydia Delectorskaya's collaboration in Matisse's studio

Abstract

This research analyses the collaboration between Lydia Delectorskaya and Henri Matisse based on a documentary corpus of images taken in the painter’s studio, where Delectorskaya can be seen actively engaging in the works with a constant and decisive presence. Between 1935 and 1954, Lydia D. systematically recorded the evolution of the canvases, compiling photographs and her own notes in her personal albums, along with some dictated by Matisse. Almost immediately, this practice became an integral part of the painting process, allowing them to review changes hidden by the brushstrokes, return to previous states, or even experiment with radical transformations. Part of this meticulous pictorial documentation was published by Lydia Delectorskaya in two of the three planned volumes (1986 y 1996); however, despite its undeniable value, both these books and the numerous gifts and dedications that Matisse offered her remain largely overlooked. Among them, an enigmatic drawing—two intertwined trunks dedicated to Lydia D., 1939—reveals, through the myth of Daphne, the intimate aesthetic and affective bond they shared for more than two decades, a relationship whose intensity, despite its evidence, remains silenced in official historiography.