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contour were prepared by Gauguin. But Matisse has gone farther, especially in his heightening of
colour to intensify the fluidity of contour. The primitivism desired by Gauguin has been reached
here without reference to exotic cultures. Matisse's figures abandon themselves to nature physically
as the Impressionist painter and viewer had visually.
In 1908 Matisse wrote: "What I am after, above all, is expression... Expression to my way of
thinking does not consist of the passion mirrored upon a human face or betrayed by a violent
gesture. The whole arrangement of my pictures is expressive. The place occupied by figures or
objects, the empty spaces around them, the proportions, everything plays a part... What I dream or
is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter..."
Matisse's Red Studio sums up his art and philosophy. Walls and floor are coloured the same strong
surprisingly airy red. As there are no shadows, the painting looks flat at first sight, but then the
beautiful clear red begins to suggest a kind of space in which the objects float. Against the walls
hang or lean canvases by Matisse. Among the furniture contoured in wavering yellow lines are
modelling stands bearing small sculptured nudes by Matisse. The idea of the picture as an
arrangement in colour has been perfectly fulfilled by Matisse. The recapitulation of his artistic
achievements becomes a delicate web of line and colour, in which Renaissance perspective survives
only as an echo.
For more than forty years Matisse continued to paint the relaxed themes he loved. He never
deserted his basic Fuave message of linear and colouristic freedom, calm and beauty. In 1921 he
took up residence at Nice, where he created a series of masterpieces. Typical of his Nice period is
Decorative Figure Against an Ornamented Background (nicknamed Nude with the Straight Back).
The strongly modelled, grandly simplified forms of the nude are played off against the movement
of the Rococo shapes in the wallpaper and the mirror. Between the browns, rose tones, and yellows
of the Oriental rug and wallpaper the richness of colour is almost overwhelming.
In 1943 Matisse moved to the Riviera hill-town of Vencc, where during a serious illness he
was cared for by Dominican nuns. In gratitude he designed and financed a wonderful chapel for
them. He created architecture, murals, stained glass, vestments the altar, candlesticks, and crucifix,
between 1948 and 1951. Despite the fact that Matisse professed no formal religion, this chapel is
one of the few greatest works of the religious art done in the twentieth century.
Although in old age Matisse was confined to bed, his scope and freedom of art widened.
Zulma, of 1950, is dominated by blue, green and pink. Its pulsating contours, flat surfaces and
brilliant colour revive on a new scale the energy of Matisse's Joy of Life. To many critics Matisse
remain, from a purely pictorial stand point, the most sensitive painter of the twentieth century.
Make sure you know how to pronounce the/allowing words:
Henry Matisse [
]; Nice [
]; Vence [
]; nun [
]; Fauve [
];
Fauvism [
]; Oriental [
]; bouquet [
]; distortion [
];
Dominican [
]; forehead [
]; triumphant [
]; decorative
[
]
NOTES
The Green Stripe - "Зеленая полоса"
Joy of Life - "Радость жизни"
Red Studio - "Красная комната"
Decorative Figure Against an Ornamented Background (Nude with the Straight Back)
-
"Декоративная фигура на фоне орнамента" (Обнаженная с прямой спиной)
Zulma - "Зульма"
TASKS
I. Read the text. Make sure you understand it. Mark the following statements true or false.
1. Matisse was an amateur painter.
2. In 1900 came the explosion of Cubism.
3. Matisse's new scale and contour were prepared by Gauguin.
4. Matisse reached Gauguin's primitivism only with reference to exotic cultures.
5. In 1943 Matisse took up residence at Nice, where he created a series of masterpieces.