Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)                                   

Medium: Color Lithograph
Edition No.: 1st Edition, Vol. IX, no. 35 & 36/6,500

Signed in plate, lower right

Publisher:  Tériade, Paris

Printer: Mourlot Atelier, Paris

Dimensions: 11' x 14" (22.5" x 27" with frame)

Catalogue Raisonné: Duthuit 139, Freitag 6231

In 1941, due to illness, Matisse underwent surgery that left him unable to walk. Painting became a physical burden. He turned to an entirely new medium. He created cut paper collages, or découpage, by cutting sheets of paper, pre-painted with gouache, into shapes of varying colors and sizes, and arranged them to form dynamic compositions. What began as modest size works eventually transformed into room-sized murals, distinct with dimensional complexity, resulting as an art form that was not quite painting, but not quite sculpture. The gouache cut-outs are “the end-product of an entire life of work and the flowing of an enormous, sincere, and difficult effort”, and of a life devoted to exalting color and evoking the happiness of living and painting, which were for him, inseparable. 

Known for his masterful use of color and his unique draftsmanship, Matisse is regarded as one of three artists who defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts which were responsible for significant innovations in painting. His expressive language of color and shape, displayed in a body of work spanning over half a century, won him recognition as a leading figure in European modern art.

In the collection of:

Minneapolis Museum of Art (MIA), MN

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)                                   

Medium: Color Lithograph
Edition No.: 1st Edition, Vol. IX, no. 35 & 36/6,500

Signed in plate, lower right

Publisher:  Tériade, Paris

Printer: Mourlot Atelier, Paris

Dimensions: 11' x 14" (22.5" x 27" with frame)

Catalogue Raisonné: Duthuit 139, Freitag 6231

In 1941, due to illness, Matisse underwent surgery that left him unable to walk. Painting became a physical burden. He turned to an entirely new medium. He created cut paper collages, or découpage, by cutting sheets of paper, pre-painted with gouache, into shapes of varying colors and sizes, and arranged them to form dynamic compositions. What began as modest size works eventually transformed into room-sized murals, distinct with dimensional complexity, resulting as an art form that was not quite painting, but not quite sculpture. The gouache cut-outs are “the end-product of an entire life of work and the flowing of an enormous, sincere, and difficult effort”, and of a life devoted to exalting color and evoking the happiness of living and painting, which were for him, inseparable. 

Known for his masterful use of color and his unique draftsmanship, Matisse is regarded as one of three artists who defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts which were responsible for significant innovations in painting. His expressive language of color and shape, displayed in a body of work spanning over half a century, won him recognition as a leading figure in European modern art.

In the collection of:

Minneapolis Museum of Art (MIA), MN

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)                                   

Medium: Color Lithograph Derived from the Cut-Paper Original Maquette
Edition No.: 1st Edition, Vol. IX, no. 35 & 36/6,500

Publisher: Tériade, Paris

Printer: Mourlot Atelier, Paris

Dimensions: 11' x 14" (22.5" x 27" with frame)

Catalogue Raisonné: Duthuit 139, Freitag 6231

“I don’t paint things, I only paint the difference between things.” -Henri Matisse

Woman with Amphora and Pomegranates is included in the Blue Nudes, a specific series of cut-outs by Henri Matisse. They are some of the most iconic images among Matisse’s final body of works. In 1941, due to illness, Matisse underwent surgery that left him unable to walk. Painting became a physical burden. He turned to an entirely new medium. He created cut paper collages, or découpage, by cutting sheets of paper, pre-painted with gouache, into shapes of varying colors and sizes, and arranged them to form dynamic compositions. What began as modest size works eventually transformed into room-sized murals, distinct with dimensional complexity, resulting as an art form that was not quite painting, but not quite sculpture. The gouache cut-outs are “the end-product of an entire life of work and the flowing of an enormous, sincere, and difficult effort”, and of a life devoted to exalting color and evoking the happiness of living and painting, which were inseparable for him.

Known for his masterful use of color and his unique draftsmanship, Matisse is regarded as one of three artists who defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts which were responsible for significant innovations in painting. His expressive language of color and shape, displayed in a body of work spanning over half a century, won him recognition as a leading figure in European modern art.

In the collection of:

Minneapolis Museum of Art (MIA), MN

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)                                  

Medium: Lithograph

Signed in the plate, lower right

Publisher: Tériade, Paris

Printer: Mourlot Atelier, Paris

Catalogue Raisonné: Duthuit 139, Freitag 6231

"I have always considered drawing not as an exercise of particular dexterity... but as a means of deliberately simplified so as to give simplicity and spontaneity to the expression, which should speak without clumsiness, directly to the mind of the spectator." -Henri Matisse

Matisse often made drawings to inform his paintings and sculptures, feeling that these drawings should be quick, gestural exercises that captured the form and emotion evoked in him by the subject. As the most direct expression of the artist's thoughts, drawing often helped Matisse to work out compositional and stylistic problems or new ideas.

In the collection of:

Minneapolis Museum of Art (MIA), MN