ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some contemporary critical approaches to the odalisques by a selection of major Matisse scholars and presents some feminist perspective on the paintings. With Jameson's observation in mind, the chapter examines the mythological and ideological premises of Matisse's odalisques. It argues that the odalisques are uncomfortably tense, in spite of their surface harmonies, because they are based on oppositional dynamics that have been fragilely balanced in an attempt to achieve a resolution of conflict that is ultimately unsuccessful. The chapter also argues that stylistic transformations in Matisse's late-life series of paper cutouts suggest the potential for actually attaining the genuine ideological reconciliation that the odalisques attempt, but fail to achieve. The mythic ideologies of sexual and cultural hegemony that structured early twentieth-century European thought had been so deeply rooted in Matisse's odalisques that they were unquestioned by the painter or his public.
