CUTTING it
In 1953, a year before he died, Matisse was approached by Mr and Mrs Brody, an American couple from Los Angeles. They were keen for him to produce a ceramic mural for their patio.
Matisse was at the rising height of his power, already one of the great titans of the avant-garde, who, along with his contemporaries Léger and Picasso, had changed the artistic culture. He was also in his 80s, bedridden and completely dependent on his assistants to help him continue working. Even so, he wasn’t above accepting a commission.
With some gusto, he set about producing a piece that he felt would be fitting. Working solely with the cutout technique he had been developing for the previous 15 years, at 10 metres wide, Large Decoration With Masks was one of his biggest-ever works – and double the size Mr and Mrs Brody had expected. Would he mind starting again? Undeterred, Matisse produced another, and then finally another, until the couple settled on The Sheaf – one of his most celebrated works and the piece that was finally realised in ceramic for their patio. History doesn’t relate whether it is still there.
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs at the Tate Modern is a masterstroke of small stories behind the big pictures. How in 1947, for instance, he reproduced the Dominican Chapel of the Rosary in Vence in his studio (and bedroom), to better immerse himself in the space. Initially asked to advise on the design of one window, he took on the whole decorative scheme; from the windows to the chasuble robes (still) worn by the priests. Then the Blue Nudes series, the perfect example of how fluid his hand was, even when bedridden.
Matisse worked intensively, sometimes completing a work in a few days, directing his assistants up ladders, their pockets full of nails, ready to pin the shapes in place. At night he would continue to consider the compositions and rework them when his helpers reappeared in the morning.
The Snail is one of the jewels in the Tate permanent collection. It is the picture most cited as ‘child’s play’. But, like the movement of this ancient beast, its carefully chosen pieces of coloured paper leave a visible trace of a life passing by.
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs, runs until 7 September at Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1: 020-7887 8888, www.tate.org.uk
Matisse was at the rising height of his power, already one of the great titans of the avant-garde, who, along with his contemporaries Léger and Picasso, had changed the artistic culture. He was also in his 80s, bedridden and completely dependent on his assistants to help him continue working. Even so, he wasn’t above accepting a commission.
With some gusto, he set about producing a piece that he felt would be fitting. Working solely with the cutout technique he had been developing for the previous 15 years, at 10 metres wide, Large Decoration With Masks was one of his biggest-ever works – and double the size Mr and Mrs Brody had expected. Would he mind starting again? Undeterred, Matisse produced another, and then finally another, until the couple settled on The Sheaf – one of his most celebrated works and the piece that was finally realised in ceramic for their patio. History doesn’t relate whether it is still there.
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs at the Tate Modern is a masterstroke of small stories behind the big pictures. How in 1947, for instance, he reproduced the Dominican Chapel of the Rosary in Vence in his studio (and bedroom), to better immerse himself in the space. Initially asked to advise on the design of one window, he took on the whole decorative scheme; from the windows to the chasuble robes (still) worn by the priests. Then the Blue Nudes series, the perfect example of how fluid his hand was, even when bedridden.
Matisse worked intensively, sometimes completing a work in a few days, directing his assistants up ladders, their pockets full of nails, ready to pin the shapes in place. At night he would continue to consider the compositions and rework them when his helpers reappeared in the morning.
The Snail is one of the jewels in the Tate permanent collection. It is the picture most cited as ‘child’s play’. But, like the movement of this ancient beast, its carefully chosen pieces of coloured paper leave a visible trace of a life passing by.
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs, runs until 7 September at Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1: 020-7887 8888, www.tate.org.uk