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Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs

by habituallychic

10 . 07 . 14

1-Matisse at the Hôtel Régina, Nice, c. 1952

I was lucky enough to see Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs this summer at the Tate Modern in London and today I saw it in New York.  Even though the new exhibition that opens at the Museum of Modern Art on October 12th contains much of the same art, it still feels exciting and new.  One piece that wasn’t on display in London is The Swimming Pool (1952) which is owned by MoMA and just underwent an extensive restoration process.  It hasn’t been seen publicly in over 20 years.

The show focuses on the final chapter of the artist’s career with much of the art falling into a 10 year period from 1943-53. Matisse explored the theme of line and color and how they came together in his cut out shapes and abstract compositions. His assistants helped with much of the work and I didn’t realize until today that all of the colors were painted onto white paper and allowed to dry before being cut. You can still see the brush strokes in some of the works.

The Tate Modern show proved to be very popular and timed tickets are required for the MoMA exhibition which runs until February 8, 2015. If you can’t make it to New York , I highly recommend buying the wonderful catalog Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs and the interactive website.

 

“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse ( 1869-1954)

2-Hôtel Régina, Nice, c. 1953 3-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 4-Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954). Memory of Oceania. Nice-Cimiez, Hôtel Régina, summer 1952–early 1953. 5-Henri Matisse, Boulevard Montparnasse, Paris, 1947 6-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 7-Matisse’s studio wall at the Villa le Rêve, Vence, May 22, 1948. 8-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 9-The development of The Parakeet and the Mermaid on the walls of Matisse’s studio at the Hôtel Régina, Nice, 1952 10-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 11-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 12-Studio assistant Annelies Nelck with tracing of Apollo on the floor of the Hôtel Régina, Nice, c. 1953 13-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 14-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 15-Installation view, Henri Matisse Papiers Decoupes, Galerie Berggruen et Cie, Paris, 1953 16-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 17-Matisse’s studio wall at the Villa le Rêve, Vence, c. 1948 18. henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 19-Matisse in front of gouache-painted papers, Hôtel Régina, Nice 20-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic 21-henri-matisse-the-cut-outs-moma-2014-habituallychic

22-The Swimming Pool in Matisse’s dining room at the Hôtel Régina, Nice, 1952.

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