Born in France in 1869, Henri Matisse is most known for spearheading the Fauvism movement, and his signature style of vibrant color and bold forms. He attended law school before discovering art, and he eventually enrolled at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. From those conservative roots grew radical experimentation as Mattise encountered the work of Vincent van Gogh and the Post-Impressionists. After a trip to the south of France in 1904, the dazzling sunlight greatly influenced his aesthetic, which eventually developed into the vibrant, unnaturally colored style that labeled him a fauve, or wild beast.

In December 1917, Matisse first visited Nice, a seaside town in the South of France far away from the chaos of the war with an abundance of sunlight and closeness to the Mediterranean; he eventually settled in Nice for the rest of his life. The works created by Matisse during this period are signified by vibrant color, southern light, decorated interiors and languorous female figures, a clear departure from his radical experimentation with abstraction and predominant use of somber colours. Many of Matisse's Nice Period works are now housed in international art museums and institutions, such as the Met Museum in New York, Saint Louis Art Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Many of these works in museum collects ions feature female figures dressed in oriental cost.mes or in various stages of undress, depicted as standing, seated, or reclining in a luxurious, exotic interior of Matisse’s own creation. And Jeune fille en noir, created in 1919, paints the very same picture. The present lot shows an elegant female sitter in black in his room at the Hôtel de la Méditerrannée, identifiable by its patterned red carpet and drapes. This work, with no doubt, is an iconic example of Matisse's oeuvre during the Early Nice Period, which marks the beginning of his artistic transformation.

A few years before arriving in Nice, Matisse was engaged with experimentation and discourse with the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris. As a result, his compositions were much more austere, almost geoMetricas lly structured and at t.mes s close to abstraction. This has changed after his stay in Nice; Matisse’s t.mes in Nice is widely considered the beginning of his re-engagement with figurative elements in his paintings. Female figures became the major subject of his work during his Early Nice period, and many of his models and sitters depicted in this period are easily recognizable. The sitter in the present work is the charming Antoinette Arnoud, one of Matisse's favorite models at the t.mes . Easily recognizable by her strong, classic features and long hair, Antoinette was featured on a large number of paintings and drawings by Matisse during this period. Here, Arnoud sits in a chair against the corner of the room, while directly looking at the viewers unwaveringly, showing a strong sense of character.

Matisse, known to be very particular about fashion, is often recounted to select outfits for his sitters and even have them wear items of his own designs. This fashionable black dress might've been an item of the artist's choosing, similar black dresses have been seen in the artist's other works from the same period. The sitter's black dress creates a stark contrast with the crimson-patterned carpet and drapes, intensifying the spatial dynamism of the many shapes and patterns found in the furnishings of the room and their visual harmony in relation to the sitter. This is an experimentation he has attempted similarly in his famous work from 1908, The Dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room). Aside from the color palette, Matisse also meticulously arranges the composition of the work to maximize the visual dynamism of the image. By placing the sitter at the corner of the room, and tilting the floor, Matise has created a theatrical scene, in which the figure almost tumbles toward the viewers, forming a direct connection with the viewers.

Jeune fille en noir was originally in the collects ion of prominent French Jewish collects or Alphonse Kann, who was forced to escape Nazi persecution heading to London in 1938. This work was looted from Kann's residence in St-Germaine-en-Laye by the Nazis in 1940, and eventually ended in the hands of notorious Nazi politician Hermann Göring. After being transferred between different owners, the work was collects ed by renowned art historian, publisher of Picasso's catalogue raisonné, Christian Zervos. Zervos learnt about the painting's confiscated history, and kindly returned it to Alphonse Kann in 1945. In December of the same year, Matisse wrote a letter to Kann, asking to submit Jeune fille en noir  to the Picasso-Matisse exhibition at London's Victoria Albert Museum in the same year. Though the work was not listed in the exhibition catalogue, this rare documentation demonstrates the artist's vivid memory of the present work, as an important creation in his career.

亨利 ・ 馬蒂斯於1869年出生於法國，他以引領野獸派藝術運動而聞名；他的藝術風格以鮮豔的色彩和大膽的形狀著稱。他在發覺對藝術對愛好之前曾就讀於法學院，他最終入學巴黎美術學院，成為了現代藝術運動的重要成員。雖然馬蒂斯在學院學習到的藝術基礎十分保守，馬蒂斯在接觸到了文森 ・ 梵高和後印象派的作品後，由此發展出了激進的實驗精神。1904年，他前往法國南部旅行，當地耀眼的陽光及色彩對他的美學產生了重大影響，由此發展成為他標誌性的鮮豔而非自然的色彩風格，而這獨特美學亦使他被稱為野獸（fauve）。

1917年12月，馬蒂斯首次訪問尼斯，一個位於法國南部的海濱小鎮。這裏遠離戰爭的混亂，有著充足的陽光，並接近地中海，讓馬蒂斯流連忘返，而他最終亦決定定居於此，直至他生命的結束。在這個時期創作的作品以鮮豔的色彩、溫暖的光線、華麗的室內裝潢和懶散的女性身影為特徵，與他早期實驗性抽象，和使用沈重色彩的風格形成顯著對比。馬蒂斯的尼斯時期作品大多現已被國際藝術博物館和機構收藏，如紐約的大都會藝術博物館、聖路易藝術博物館、芝加哥藝術學院以及費城的巴恩斯基金會。這些博物館藏的作品大多描繪了身著異域服飾或衣著各異的女性形象，她們或站立、或坐臥，或斜倚在馬蒂斯精心打造的奢華室內空間中。創作於1919年的《黑衣少女》正是描繪了同樣的場景。本作中，一位優雅的黑衣女子置身於馬蒂斯位於地中海酒店的房間內，房間的紅色花紋地毯和帷幔清晰可辨。毫無疑問，這幅作品是馬蒂斯早期尼斯時期的代表作，標誌著他藝術風格轉變的開始。

在抵達尼斯的數年前，馬蒂斯曾熱衷於探索和研究畢卡索和胡安·格里斯的立體主義。因此，他的作品構圖變得更為簡潔，近乎幾何結構，有時甚至接近抽象。然而，在尼斯生活之後，他的創作風格發生了改變；人們普遍認為，馬蒂斯在尼斯的這段時期標誌著他重新開始在其繪畫作品中運用具像元素的重要轉折。女子的肖像成了馬蒂斯早期尼斯時期最為重要的創作主題，而他這時期描繪過的模特和人物也非常容易辨認。《黑衣少女》中的模特是迷人的安托瓦内特·阿爾努（Antoinette Arnoud），她是馬蒂斯當時最喜愛的模特之一。安托瓦內特以她立體而典雅的面部特徵及長髮而著稱，在這一時期的許多馬蒂斯的畫作和素描中均有她的身影。圖中，阿爾努坐在房間角落的椅子上，目光堅定地直視觀眾，展現出鮮明的個性。

馬蒂斯對時尚有著獨特的品味和要求，據文獻記載，他經常親自為模特挑選服裝，甚至讓她們穿上馬蒂斯自己設計的衣服和帽子。這件在1910年代十分時尚的黑色禮服很可能是藝術家為模特所選擇的，而與這件黑色禮服相似的黑色裙子在同一時期的其他作品中也有出現。黑衣少女》中女子的黑色禮服與有著紅色圖案地毯和窗簾形成了鮮明的對比，使得房間內部各種形狀和圖案，和畫面中央的人物形成了極具空間動態的視覺和諧畫面。而中馬蒂斯1908年的著名作品《紅色的和諧（紅色房間）》中亦進行過了類似的嘗試：將衣著普通黑色裙子的人物置於充滿生動圖案的紅色房間中，以形成視覺上的衝擊對比。馬蒂斯在本作的構圖構圖上花了許多心思，以最大化畫面的視覺動態及張力。他讓模特坐在房間的角落中，並蓄意使得前景的地板向前傾斜，透過此安排，馬蒂斯創造了一個戲劇性的場景，使得畫中人幾乎向觀眾傾斜，與觀眾之間形成了直接的互動與聯繫。

《黑衣少女》最初屬於著名的法國猶太收藏家阿爾豐斯·坎（Alphonse Kann）的收藏，他於1938年因受到納粹迫害而逃亡倫敦。而該作品，以及他的其他藝術收藏，於1940年被納粹從坎位於聖日耳曼昂萊的住宅中搶走，最終落入納粹政治家赫爾曼·戈林（Hermann Göring）手中。在數次轉手之後，該作品被著名的藝術史學家、畢卡索作品圖錄的主編克里斯蒂安·澤爾沃斯（Christian Zervos）收藏。澤爾沃斯了解到該畫作被沒收的歷史，於1945年將其歸還給阿爾豐斯·坎。 同年12月，馬蒂斯寫信給坎，請求將《黑衣少女》納入到同年在倫敦維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館舉辦的畢卡索-馬蒂斯展覽之中。雖本作最終並未載入展覽圖錄中，這份罕見文獻展示了藝術家對這件作品的深刻記憶，表明其在他職業生涯中的重要性。