Matisse: His Art and His Public

by Alfred H. Barr Jr.

A comprehensive biographical and critical assessment of Matisse's life and work, incorporates many of the artist's own evaluations of his creative anxieties and difficulties and examines public and critical reaction to his work over the years

Genres: Art, Art History

591 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr. (1902 -1981) known as Alfred H. Barr, Jr., was an American art historian and the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

From that position, he was one of the most influential forces in the development of popular attitudes toward modern art; for example, his arranging of the blockbuster Van Gogh exhibition of 1935, in the words of author Bernice Kert, was "a precursor to the hold Van Gogh has to this day on the contemporary imagination."

Reviews

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a serious treatment by one of the more important students of Modernism (Alfred H. Barr), and I cannot imagine a better introduction to the complex oeuvre of Matisse -- ever changing, ever eclectic, ever out-of-tune with the movements of his time. I found the early Matisse to be the most fascinating -- up to, say, 1913.

This book has only 280 pages of text, and an enormous number of B&W plates -- but these are easily supplemented by the internet.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Primarily a reference book spanning Matisse's entire career, divided into time periods: i.e., 1930-1939. Exhaustively detailed, covering everything, painting, sculpture, murals, various print techniques, lithography.
Originally published 1951, I found this 1966 reprint edition some years ago second-hand for $20.

Matisse's early career, starting in Gustave Moreau's studio, who told Matisse, "You are going to simplify painting."
In 1908 Matisse wrote and published one of the most influential statements ever made by an artist; NOTES OF A PAINTER, which is printed in full.
In 1907 Matisse was persuaded by Sarah Stein and Hans Purrmann to start a school in Paris, which lasted from 1908 - 1911. Almost exclusively the students were from other countries, mostly American, Scandinavian and German.

There's tons of information in the book, about his family, his experience remaining in France continuing to work through both WWI & WWII.

The extensive detailed text runs to page 288, then from p. 291 to 574 are the black and white Plates with a few colour plates and Notes.

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulous and thorough history of Matisse with descriptions of every major work. Quite a few color plates and half tones of everything else discussed in the book. Sadly, completed in 1951, a few years before Matisse died. Barr was the first director of MOMA.

[Natalie]

Favorite of Diebenkorn