Historical and Cultural Context - Henri Matisse


Post-Impressionism | Historical and Cultural Context | Site Map | On-Line Resources | Rules of Thumb | Glossary | Quotes | WordList | Co-Teachers - Doug and Melissa | Gallery
E-Mail Doug at mrdoug@aznet.net or Melissa atmelissa.granadatreehousestudio@gmail.com

“What I am after, above all, is expression.”


Henri Matisse - The Clown


Top

  • Born 1869, died 1954
  • Became a lawyer
  • Got sick and saw art as life
  • Against father’s warning, “you’ll starve!” went to Paris to study art


Top

Influenced by Light-filled paintings of the impressionists

The word ``impressionniste'' was printed for the first time in the Charivari on the 25 April 1874 by Louis Leroy, after Claude Monet's landscape entitled Impressions: soleil levant [Impressions]. This word was used to call Exposition des Impressionnistes an exhibit held in the salons of the photographer Nadar and organized by the ``Société anonyme des peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs'' [``Anonymous society of painters, sculptors and engravers''], composed of Pissarro, Monet, Sisley, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Guillaumin and Berthe Morisot.


Claude Monet - Impressions: soleil levant [Impressions] - 1874 -
http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/


Top

Influenced by the intense, personal visions of:
Van Gogh (van GO)


Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers - 1889 -
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/collection/catalog/vglpainting.asp?ARTID=80&LANGID=0


Top

Gauguin (go-GAN)


(Eugène-Henri-) Paul Gauguin - Arearea (Joyousness) - 1892 -
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gauguin/


Top

Cézanne (say-ZAN)


Paul Cézanne - Still Life with Water Jug - c. 1892-3 -
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/sl/


Top

Discontent with bright colors alone.

Paintings should have structure, the arrangement of shapes and the spaces between them.

“...to capture the essential character of things.”


Henri Matisse - Odalisque with a Turkish Chair - 1928


Top

The first 45 years of figure painting

Reduced his shapes and flattened his colors in order to express the essence of his subject.


Henri Matisse - Goldfish - 1912


Top

Key elements:

  • Simplified shapes
  • Flat colors
  • Repeat patterns


Henri Matisse - Chinese Fish - 1951


Top

“Finally I have found the most direct way to express myself – the paper cutout”


Henri Matisse - Icarus (shows the original French text) - 1943


Top

His process

  • Pick a subject
  • Create shapes that symbolize the elements within the subject
  • Cut out shapes spontaneously
  • Arrange (play with) the shapes


Top

Shape vocabulary

  • People and plants are organic (curved)
  • Backgrounds are geometric
  • Rectangles act as framing devices
  • Positive shapes in cut paper
  • Negative shapes left from cut
  • Space between shapes
  • Scale (large vs small)


Henri Matisse - The Knife Thrower


“The truly original artist invents his own signs.”


Henri Matisse - The Codomas


TEXT and ART not referenced with hyperlink: Henri Matisse, working with shapes Scholastic Art, Dec 1996/Jan 1997 vol.27, no. 3, Published in cooperation with the National Gallery of Art. Formerly ART & MAN
Post-Impressionism | Historical and Cultural Context | Site Map | On-Line Resources | Rules of Thumb | Glossary | Quotes | WordList | Co-Teachers - Doug and Melissa | Gallery | Top
E-Mail Doug at mrdoug@aznet.net or Melissa at melissa.granadatreehousestudio@gmail.com

Melissa and I would like to
thank
znet for
making a commitment to
education and WriteDesign.