Henri Matisse | Line and Colour

In the years preceding his death in 1954 and when ill health prevented him from painting, Matisse created his iconic and innovative, bold gouache paper cut-outs. In 1953-54 he worked with renowned lithographer Fernand Mourlot and the art publisher Tériade to reinterpret these works as lithographs. Matisse had already worked many times with Tériade, including on the famous Jazz Portfolio in 1947. His lithographs were frequently included in Verve magazine, Tériade's quarterly review of arts and letters. Fernand Mourlot worked with many of the great artists of the period, including Marc Chagall, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró.

Matisse oversaw the first proofs for the publication in 1954, including the cover design, however he died before the magazine could be published. Consequently, this special edition of Verve - published in 1958 - became a tribute to Matisse's final years and was titled 'Dernières Oeuvres de Matisse 1950-54' (Last works of Matisse). The publication featured 40 original lithographs based on his final cut-outs, all of which are displayed in this exhibition. They include some of his most famous works such as the Blue Nudes, The Snail and The Sheaf, as well as lesser known designs including maquettes for stained glass windows and ceramic commissions.

“To find joy in the sky, the trees, the flowers … There are always flowers for those who want to see them”. – Henri Matisse

In this collection of lithographs by Matisse, the ‘flowers’ in which one can find joy are not – strictly speaking – those literal blossoms that grow out of the ground or that are pinned in a young woman’s hair – although those types of flowers do feature in these pieces. In Florilège des Amours de Ronsard, the ‘florilège’, or ‘bouquet’, refers to a compilation of love poems, or amours. Written by Pierre de Ronsard, a French poet from the 1500s, these poems have been gathered and curated into a beautiful anthology where each sonnet is itself a flower.