Intimate Matisse

by Henri Matisse, Jane Kinsman, National Gallery of Australia

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) considered his drawing to be a very intimate means of expression - the "purest" and "most direct." His method of execution varied from charcoal, pencil, crayon, etcher's burin, lithographic tusche, to paper cut. Frequently his composition was of the female form.
This small book reproduces drawings from late in the artist's career, when he created series of drawings in the great French tradition of the artist's book (livre de peintre), where original prints are combined with carefully selected texts. Included are illustrations from Jazz and other works.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid, brilliant and original draughtsmanship.

As a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but principally as a painter, Matisse is one of the best-known artists of the 20th century. Although he was initially labeled as a Fauve (wild beast), by the 1920s, he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting.

His mastery of the expressive language of colour and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.