Henri Matisse the Horse and the Clown Print Repro Art Institute Chicago

Henri Matisse, "
Le cheval, l'écuyère, et le clown (The Horse, the Rider, and the Clown)," plate Five of XX, from Jazz, 1947, 
Pochoir (stencil) on Arches newspaper, 16 3/4" x 25 iii/v"
 (© 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society, New York) (all images unless otherwise noted courtesy Bechtler Museum of Modern Art)

CHARLOTTE, N Carolina —The Art Books of Henri Matisse at Charlotte's Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is a travelling exhibition with a new twist. This iteration offers the risk to run into four of Matisse's print books side by side to a handsome pick of artists' books from the Bechtler Museum'south own collection, some of which rival the nifty French Modernistic Master's work in this medium.

Linocut by Henry Matisse for 
Henry de Montherlant'due southPasiphaé, Chant de Minos (Les Crétois) (Pasiphaé, Song of Minos [The Cretans])
Paris: Martin Fabiani, 1944. (
© 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Lodge, New York) (click to enlarge)

The largest room in the Matisse section is given over to pages from Jazz, perhaps his well-nigh well-known art book. Printed in 1947, it consists of playful images of circus performers and animals, interspersed with notes by Matisse in his own handwriting. The bold, flat colors and arresting shapes arose from the decoupage technique (cut up pieces of colored paper) that he discovered in the 1940s, and which became his major course of artistic output in his concluding years (and which were justly celebrated in a survey at New York's MOMA final twelvemonth). Jazz is notable for beingness the first public statement of this technique, and even though Matisse was dissatisfied with the book when information technology was printed (believing that the stencil-based reproduction did non do justice to the vibrancy of the cut paper), he came to appreciate the status of Jazz equally introducing a new form of visual language to the contemporary art of the fourth dimension.

A view of the Matisse exhibition (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Seeing these pages from the original edition makes ane appreciate the high degree of skill involved in their making: each color and shape was practical by paw using mainly gouache applied through stencils, for every shape on every page of every book in the edition. Most reproductions of Jazz don't take hold of the resulting subtle variations of colour from folio to page, or the slight smudging sometimes between one color area and another that accentuates the volume as a handmade object.

Henri Matisse's frontispiece for Henry de Montherlant's Pasiphae, linocuts (1944) (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Henri Matisse: Poems of Charles d'Orleans, lithographs, (1950) (photo by the writer for Hyperallergic) (click to enlarge)

The other three books are an edition of poems by Stephane Mallarmé, illustrated by sinuous line etchings; a story past Henry de Montherlant, illustrated with linocuts; and poems by Charles d'Orleans, illustrated by lithographs.

The de Montherlant illustrations are specially fine, combining a symmetrical residue between the dense text and the simplicity of the prints. The least successful book is the Charles d'Orleans, consisting mainly of a few repeated heraldic designs that look hastily produced, proving that even the not bad Matisse could occasionally run out of inspiration.

Henri Matisse'southward comprehend for 
Poèmes de Charles d'Orléans (Poems of Charles d'Orléans)
(Paris: Efstratios Tériade, 1950) (© 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society, New York)

An adjacent gallery houses books produced by an impressive array of 20th-century artists, from George Braque's collection of intaglio prints The Society of Birds, and densely textured prints past Antoni Tàpies, to several accordion-fold books past Swiss artist Warja Honegger-Lavater. To contemporary eyes, information technology'south peradventure true to say that many of these art books gave the artists the opportunity to try out piece of work in a different medium that was all the same very similar to their studio work. Certainly, compared to the experimentation on view at New York's Center for Book Arts, or the Joan Flasch collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the books by Matisse, Braque, et al, seem almost conventional in their format. Nevertheless, an exhibition similar this one at the Bechtler Museum is a run a risk to come across some rarely seen artist's books, and affords a riveting snapshot of a new form of expression in its first full flowering.

Henri Matisse'south illustration for 
Poésies de Stéphane Mallarmé (The Verse of Stéphane Mallarmé)
)Lausanne, Switzerland: Albert Skira & Cie, 1932)
 (
© 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society, New York)

Henri Matisse: Jazz, The Nightmare of the White Elephant/The Clown, pochoir plates and lithographic text (1947) (photograph past the author for Hyperallergic)

Warja Honegger-Lavater, The Cicada and the Pismire, watercolor, ink, collage, artist book (1960) (photo by the writer for Hyperallergic)

The Art Books of Henri Matisse continues at the Bechtler Museum of Mod Fine art (420 S Tryon Street, Charlotte, Due north Carolina) through September 7, 2015.

Philip Hartigan is a Great britain-born artist and author who now lives, works and teaches in Chicago. He besides writes occasionally for Time Out-Chicago. Personal narratives (his own, other peoples', and invented)... More by Philip A Hartigan

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Source: https://hyperallergic.com/206490/the-art-books-of-henri-matisse/