•
Henri Matisse: A Celebration of French Poets and Poetry
An
exhibition of selected works consisting of forty-seven (47)
lithographs printed in Sanguine and sixteen (16) etchings
in drypoint.
In
1930 Matisse was to produce perhaps his greatest etchings-a
collection of 29 drypoints for Mallarmé Stéphane's
Poésies, published in Lausanne by Albert Skira with
an edition of 145 copies. Matisse responded to Skira's invitation
to illustrate the poems with great enthusiasm and gave most
of his attention to the commission that summer while he
was residing in Paris, while the Barnes mural absorbed all
of his time during the winter in the south of France. The
subject matter of the twenty-nine etchings, like the poems
themselves, varies considerably, and while there are images
that reflect his earlier work, there are also casual references
to his recent experiences in Tahiti.
"After
1928, (Matisse) was not again to concern himself with myth
or poetry or literature for around twenty-five years. Yet
when he did he produced one of his greatest masterpieces,
the design and illustration of Mallarmé's Poésies."
---Alfred H.
Barr, Jr.
The
etchings for Poésies came about as a proposal from
Albert Skira almost
immediately after Matisse returned to France from Tahiti
in 1930. Many of
the images show the artist's recollections of the South
Pacific.
"I
made some of my etchings, after hundreds of drawings and
research studies in the definition of form. Then I executed
the plates with my eyes shut."
---
Henri Matisse
In
1941, Matisse began one of his most complicated and most
successful printmaking projects-Floriléges des Amours
de Ronsard, a project that he began while convalescing following
a series of surgical procedures that left him a partial
invalid for the remainder of his life. He began working
on the Florilége prints with the publisher Albert
Skira, but due to the war and problems with printing, the
project was delayed and during the separation between the
artist and his publisher, Matisse made several revisions
and changes in the work. His original plan called for illustrating
approximately thirty poems by the 16th Century French poet
Pierre de Ronsard, but seven years later he had composed
an expanded version consisting of one hundred twenty six
images, including some vignettes.
Matisse's
readings of Ronsard were channeled into imaginative conceptions
and creative responses to Ronsard's poems about women and
love. . . they are to be gazed at, admired, desired, and
consumed."
---
Marcia Reed
Curator of Collections
Getty Research Institute
The
subjects and strong imagery of Ronsard's poems lent themselves
gracefully to Matisse's favored themes-fruits, flowers,
the female figure, and portraits. He did not complete the
series until 1948. Matisse selected all of the poems himself
and created a magnificent tribute to one of the greatest
literary figures of the French Renaissance, Pierre de Ronsard.
Matisse also translated each poem from Renaissance French
to contemporary French spoken today, for the publication
of his anthology of Ronsard's love poems.
[This
exhibition lends itself to interpretations of Modernism
and the history of the Renaissance period with poetry readings
in both French and English as well as performances of chamber
music. CDs are also available (Arion Label) with music arranged
by Stephane Caillat who studied at the Conservatoire de
Lyon and at the Coinservatoire National de Paris. Other
ensemble music of the period is available for live performances
conducted by local philharmonic groups. Please call Contemporary
& Modern Print Exhibitions for more details.]
Monographs for the catalog were prepared by Marcia Reed,
Curator of Collections, J. Paul Getty Research Institute;
and Darrin Wilde, French Literature Dept., University of
California, Irvine.
[Photo of Ronsard (from is portrait painting) I not sure
what this one looks like. Let me know.]
