A revolutionary who redefined art in the early 20th century
With a practice spanning over half a century, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) helped redefine art in the early twentieth-century with his radical approach to drawing, painting and sculpture and his mastery of colour.
After ill health left him unable to paint in his late sixties, Matisse began to cut into coloured paper, creating abstract forms which he would arrange into collages. Known as ‘cut-outs’, these innovative works marked a new phase in the artist’s career and the invention of an incredibly modern artistic medium.
“Lively and violent”
In 1947 Matisse created the iconic, limited edition artist book, Jazz. The book contained a series of colourful and vibrant cut-outs with circus and theatre themes, accompanied by the artist’s handwritten thoughts.
Describing the cut-outs, he wrote: “These images, with their lively and violent tones, derive from crystallizations of memories of circuses, folktales, and voyages.”
We are delighted to bring you images of these spectacular works, in addition to images of earlier Matisse pieces, including a woodcut dating back to 1906.
This has been made possible through our work with the Arts Council Collection and National Galleries of Scotland, whose images we license on their behalf. Our fees go back towards supporting these important public collections.
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Le Cirque [The Circus], plate II of the 1947 illustrated book 'Jazz', 1947:
Les Codomas [The Codomas], plate XI of the 1947 illustrated book 'Jazz', 1947:
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Images from top: Le Cheval l'écuyère et le clown [The Horse, the Rider and the Clown], plate V of the 1947 illustrated book 'Jazz', 1947, Henri Matisse © Succession H, Matisse/DACS 2017, Image: © National Galleries of Scotland/Artimage; Le Cirque [The Circus], plate II of the 1947 illustrated book 'Jazz', 1947, Henri Matisse © Succession H. Matisse/DACS 2017, Image: © National Galleries of Scotland/Artimage; Les Codomas [The Codomas], plate XI of the 1947 illustrated book 'Jazz', 1947, Henri Matisse © Succession H. Matisse/DACS 2017, Image: © National Galleries of Scotland/Artimage.