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| The Horse, the Rider and the Clown, 1943-4 |
I am very excited to say that Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs is opening its doors at the Tate Modern tomorrow, revealing the most comprehensive exhibition
of the artist's paper cut-outs created between 1943-1954. Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse (1869-1954) was
a master of expressive drawing, leading colourist and one of the forerunners of
modern art. After being diagnosed with cancer in 1941 he found it increasingly
difficult to paint and turned his hand to cutting shapes out of painted paper using
scissors. “Painting with scissors” was what he called it, painstakingly
arranging and rearranging the cut shapes until the desired balance of form and
colour was achieved, after which the finished composition was glued to paper,
canvas or board. The resultant maquettes were created for commissions, books,
stained glass windows and ceramics that resulted in some of the most
influential works of his entire career that spanned over half a century.
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| Large Composition with Masks, 1953 |
The new
medium gave him a new lease of life, illustrated through their expressive bold
colours and vast scale, simultaneously imbued with an engaging simplicity and
creative sophistication. Of the 120 works on show highlights include his very first
cut-outs created between 1943-1947 which comprise Jazz, 1947, a book of 20 plates, alongside an album which contains
copies of the 20 plates with hand written text, only 100 copies of which were
printed. This will be the first time both the book and album have been on
display outside of France.
Off great
significance is the fact that The Snail,
1953, Memory of Oceania, 1953 and Large Composition with Masks, 1953,
initially conceived as a unified whole, are being reunited for the first time
since their creation in the artists studio. The exhibition also includes the
largest number of his Blue Nudes ever to be on public display together, most
notable is Blue Nude I, 1952.
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| The Snail, 1953 |
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| Blue Nude (I) 1952 |
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| Icarus, 1946 |
London is
the first to host this landmark exhibition, closing on September 7th, before it travels to the Museum of
Modern Art in New York.
