Birth Year : 1869
Death Year : 1954
Country : France
Henri Matisse was born in Le Chateau, in the north of France. His plans
to enter the law profession were interrupted by an attack of appendicitis.
During a long convalescence, Matisse 's attempts at painting encouraged
him to study art. He was twenty-two when he arrived in Paris to study with
Bourgereau at the Beaux-Arts and to work also with Gustave Moreau.
Matisse 's early paintings were dark, naturalistic works, but by 1896 he
had taken up Neo-Impressionist techniques, working in light color and short
strokes. By 1905, he was the leader of the Fauve movement, and by 1908
he had embarked on the course that was to influence all contemporary painting
since that date: an exploration of the possibilities of painting as a decorative
and sensuous art.
Cezanne, who expressed depth through
color, was Matisse 's primary influence. Gauguin
and van Gogh influenced his use of
color to express emotion, his simplified or distorted drawing, and his
sacrifice of realistic illusions of depth to an emphatic surface pattern.
Retaining volume within the limits of color and design, Matisse juxtaposes
intense colors, varied patterns, and a rhythmic line. The results are dynamic
paintings that are sometimes emotional, sometimes serene, constantly changing,
and always more than merely decorative. Throughout his long and successful
career Matisse sought to improve his work, and to find the perfect manner
of expression.
By 1918, he had a worldwide reputation, and besides his paintings and
line drawings he was commissioned to do book illustrations, ballet sets,
and murals. His most famous mural "La Danse," painted for the Barnes Foundation
in Philadelphia (1931-33), achieves its effect by an extreme simplification
of figures in a moving pattern of graceful lines. His last great public
work was the complete decoration-stained glass, furniture, murals, and
chasubles-for the Dominican Chapel in Vence, a work accomplished in tones
of ochre, black, and white. The subdued coloring used in the chapel offers
a sharp contrast to the brilliant combinations of color he used in the
cut-paper paintings he created in the final years of his life when he could
no longer handle a brush. Matisse died in Vence, in the south of France,
in 1954.
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Henri(-Emile-Benoit)
Matisse
La
Danse
Henri(-Emile-Benoit)
Matisse
La
Tristesse du Roi
Henri(-Emile-Benoit)
Matisse
Cyclamen
Pourpre
Henri(-Emile-Benoit)
Matisse
Thousand
& One Nights (complete)
Henri(-Emile-Benoit)
Matisse
Blue
Nude
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all Henri(-Emile-Benoit) Matisse
Books about Henri
Matisse |
