HENRI MATISSE

(1869-1954)

Matisse was born in 1869 - La Cateau-Cambresis, France

In 1887-1889, Matisse studied law in Paris

When he was 21, (1889) Matisse became seriously ill (during stay in hospital he becomes interested in art.

MAJOR LIFETIME EVENTS

[1889] Following an attack of appendicitis, he begins to paint, when his mother brings him art supplies during the period of convalescence.

“From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.” -MATTISSE

He decides to become an artist, bitterly disappointing his father who wanted him to pursue a law career.

Matisse studies art at the Académie Julian…after a discouraging year he leaves, due to the overly perfectionist style of teaching.

He is Introduced to Impressionism and to the work of Van Gogh. Matisse’s style begins to change…he began making color a crucial element of his paintings.

“In modern art, it is Cézanne to whom I owe the most.”

By studying Cézanne’s fragmented planes, which stretched the idea of the still-life to a forced contemplation of color surfaces themselves, Matisse was able to reconstruct his own philosophy of the still life. The Dinner Table (1897) was Matisse’s first masterpiece, and he had spent an entire winter working on it.

Studio Under the Eaves, 1903 Oil on Canvas.

METING PICASSOMatisse and Picasso were first brought together in 1904 at the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein and her companion Alice B. Toklas.The two became life-long friends as well as rivals. Although often compared, Matisse drew and painted from nature, Picasso was much more inclined to work from imagination…the subjects painted most frequently by both artists were women and still-lifes. The two were said to have always been looking over their shoulders at each other.

“No one has ever looked at Matisse’s paintings more carefully than I; and no one has looked at mine more carefully than he.” -PABLO PICASSO

Matisse and Picasso became part of Stein’s social circle and the important early Saturday evening salons at 27 Rue de Fleurus. Gertrude attributed the beginnings of the Saturday evening salons to Matisse, remarking:

“Matisse brought people, everybody brought somebody, and they came at any time and it began to be a nuisance, and it was in this way that Saturday evenings began.” -GERTRUDE STEIN

The Joy of Life (1905)

During his Fauve years Matisse often painted landscapes in the south of France during the summer and worked up ideas developed there into larger compositions upon his return to Paris. Joy of Live, is influenced by Japanese woodcuts, Persian miniatures, and 19th century Oriental images of harems. The scene is made up of independent motifs arranged to form a complete composition.

The Young Sailor, 1906

The Red Studio (1911)

From 1906-1917 he lives in Paris and established his home, studio, and school.

Nasturtiums with the Painting "Dance", 1912

Matisse was more admired by foreigners than by the French. It was the Russians and the Americans who acquired significant collections of his early work, almost as quickly as it was created. Matisse had a long, storied career and was considered one of the world’s greatest living painters throughout his life

Purple Robe and Anemones (1937)

1941- Matisse had a serious operation1948- Matisse designed an entire chapel for

some Dominican nuns who helped him to recover after his operation.

Matisse created his famous paper cut-out artwork titled Beasts of the Sea

Matisse’s Later Years

Matisse uses cut paperto create images due to health problems.

Blue Nude(1954)

Henri Matisse dies in 1954

La Gerbe (1953)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m-B_15icZA

Schneider, Pierre. Matisse. New York: Rizolli Publications Inc., 1984

Chew, Robin. “Henri Matisse:Fauves Artist” www.lucidcafe.com 1995 http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95dec/matsse.html (Retrieved 4 April 2005)

K., Shuba. “Henri Matise” www.kyrene.k12.az.us www.kyrene.k12.az.us/…/sunda/art/matisse.htm

Works sited