MATISSE 1917-1954

by Girard

In 1917, at the height of his fame as a leader of the Parisian avant-garde during its heroic period (1905-1913), Henri Matisse settled in Nice, to escape the austerities of wartime Paris and renew his art through exposure to the color and radiance of the South. The new synthesis the onetime King of the Fauves now explored involved the rival claims that would always engage him: color and line, volumetric nature and flat, abstract form, freedom and control, the intellect and the senses. This time, however, he tipped the balance away from the high cerebration of his latest Parisian work towards what he had called his "suppressed voluptuousness." The pictures that came forth were marvels of limpid chromaticism and hedonistic luxuriance. With masterly cunning, he civilized the eroticism of these images in charm, intimate scale, soft-focus illusionism, and lush, almost Oriental color, all qualities that proudly harked back to the decorative, Rococo world of Boucher and Fragonard. In this book the story of Matisse in Nice is told by Xavier Girard, curator of Nice's Musee Matisse, in a lively, exceptionally well-informed and beautifully illustrated text.

Genres: Art

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Mark Bunch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have for the Matissee fan. I visited his home and art studio in the French riveria in my 30's. I loved it. i bought this book then. Matisee's use of bright colors is a great example of the why move to south france to use the sunlight.