Matisse and the Artist Book
Henri Matisse, frontispiece in the book Pasiphaé: Chant de Minos (Les Crétois) by H. de Montherlant (Paris: Martin Fabiana, 1944). Linocut on Japan paper. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books. Art © Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Through October 12, 2014
Henri Matisse was 60 years old when he began to create original illustrations for livres d’artiste (artists' books). By the time of his death, 25 years later, he had produced designs for 14 fully illustrated books, several of which are considered 20th-century masterpieces of the genre. View seven of these rare books, including Poésies (1932) and Pasiphaé (1944), in conjunction with the special exhibition Matisse from SFMOMA at the Legion of Honor*.
Matisse was stimulated and challenged by book illustration and design, often taking months to prepare pictorial concepts. In his 1946 essay "How I Did My Books," he wrote, "I draw no distinction between the construction of a book and the construction of a painting and always move from the simple to the complex, but I am always ready to reconceive in simplicity." In the same essay he declared that the first principle of good book design was a rapport with the nature of the book. For Matisse this meant carefully balancing text and illustration. He handled this masterfully in Pasiphaé with delicate linocuts, and in Poésies with etchings composed of modified arabesques that draw attention to the illustration as much as to the inviting text.
Matisse from SFMOMA
Matisse’s expressive canvases were first introduced to San Francisco shortly after the 1906 earthquake, shocking the arts community with their startling colors and brushwork. Since then, the Bay Area has maintained a fervent connection to the artist’s work, resulting in SFMOMA’s rich collection, which showcases pieces from Matisse’s early career, and continues through the 1930s.
Left: Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954). Young Woman in Pink (La Jeune Femme en Rose), 1923. Oil on canvas.
Right: Study for "Young Woman in Pink", ca. 1923. Charcoal with stumping and erasure on cream wove paper. Both artworks are memorial gifts from Dr. T. Edward and Tullah Hanley, Bradford, Pennsylvania
Matisse from SFMOMA includes important examples from the artist’s Fauve period, along with other significant paintings, drawings, and bronzes. Iconic works such as Sketch from "The Joy of Life" (1905‒1906), The Girl with Green Eyes (1908), and portraits of the artist’s early patrons Michael and Sarah Stein (1916) are featured along with major sculptural studies that include Madeleine, I (1901), The Serf (1900–1903), and Large Head: Henriette II (1927). Also on view are pre-Fauve still lifes and landscapes, as well as The Conversation (1938), a later decorative interior.
Selections from the Fine Arts Museums’ collection include the vibrant and patterned Young Woman in Pink (1923) and an early nude painted in the academic manner Faith, the Model (ca. 1901), the latter of which was formerly owned by the Steins and displayed in their Paris apartment, as were many of the works in SFMOMA’s holdings.
*The Legion of Honor was inspired by the French pavilion at San Francisco’s Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, which was a replica of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris. The museum opened in 1924 in the Beaux Arts–style building designed by George Applegarth, on a bluff overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Its holdings span 4,000 years and include European painting, sculpture, and decorative arts; ancient art from the Mediterranean basin; and the largest collection of works on paper in the American West.
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