Rethinking the Image

Image source: https://artuk.org/discover/artists/smith-matthew-arnold-bracy-18791959 (Accessed: 20 December 2025). © The Estate of Sir Matthew Smith

Sir Matthew Smith, Nude, Fitzroy Street, No. 1 (1916), London, Tate Britain, 87 cm x 76.5 cm, oil on canvas.

Sir Matthew Smith was a British painter with an affinity for French art^[1][2]. He took particular inspiration from the Fauvism movement, with its bold brushwork and non-naturalistic use of colour, which initially came to prominence just as Smith was beginning his art studies at the Slade School^[2][3]. A few years later, Smith briefly studied under the most celebrated of the ‘Fauves’ – the great colourist, Henri Matisse^[2][3].

The intense, contrasting colours of Nude, Fitzroy Street, No. 1 are immediately eye-catching, and the whole painting seems to hum with energy. A seated female figure, painted predominantly in a rich green, poses wistfully against a fiery red backdrop.

It is likely that Nude took a certain amount of inspiration from Matisse’s fauvist masterpiece, The Green Stripe (1905)^[4]. In Nude, the colours of The Green Stripe are inverted, with green being the principal colour, representing the shaded areas of the figure, and ochre tones representing exposed areas. These shaded and exposed sections are often separated by blue highlights, which also form much of the figure’s outline.

The figure is given solidity through thick, confident brushstrokes, with the contours of her body clearly defined. Certain areas, however, such as the upper back and the lower part of the face, are given slightly more delicate treatment; these areas draw particular attention to the artist’s brushwork.

The subtle white diagonal line in the lower right-hand portion of Nude is very similar to that in the lower left-hand area of Matisse’s The Red Studio (1911)^[5], adding to the painting’s sense of space and perspective in a similar way. In Nude, however, this subtle detail is secondary to the large bands of green which act as stylised perspective lines.

The rich green tone of these perspective lines is indistinguishable from that of the figure’s body, although certain carefully placed details, such as the blue cushion and the bright yellow area of the chair, ensure that the figure remains separate from the background without undermining the painting’s colour theme. The shape of the yellow area also serves to indicate a source of light which is consistent with the exposed, ochre-coloured areas of the figure’s body.

Intense, stylish, and alluring, Nude, Fitzroy Street, No. 1 is a memorable reminder of the international impact of Matisse and Fauvism which possesses a visual appeal all of its own.

[1] Tate (no date) Nude, Fitzroy Street, No. 1. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/smith-nude-fitzroy-street-no-1-n06086 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[2] Art UK (no date) Matthew Arnold Bracy Smith. Available at: https://artuk.org/discover/artists/smith-matthew-arnold-bracy-18791959 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[3] Tate (no date) Fauvism. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fauvism (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[4] Henri Matisse (no date) Green Stripe, 1905 by Henri Matisse. Available at: https://www.henrimatisse.org/green-stripe.jsp (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[5] Henri Matisse (no date) L’Atelier Rouge, 1911 by Henri Matisse. Available at: https://www.henrimatisse.org/the-red-studio.jsp (Accessed: 20 December 2025).