| Henri Matisse |
| Biography |
| Henri Emile Benoit Matisse (1869–1954), the French Fauvist Painter, Sculptor, Lithographer, Etcher and Draughtsman, was born in Picardy Northern France in 1869. Matisse originally studied law in Paris. In 1890, after becoming ill, he started to paint. Matisse studied at the Academie Julian Paris in 1892 under Bouguereau and then under Gustave Moreau in 1892-6, through whom he met the artists Marquet, Manguin and Rouault. Discovering impressionism and the post impressionist painters Pissarro, Cezanne, Van Gough, Gaugin and William Turner, Matisse experimented with divisionist techniques. In 1899 he bought the Three Bathers from Cezanne whom he greatly admired and in 1904 became interested in the works of Georges Pierre Seurat, a Parisian painter famous for his coloured dot work. He also befriended Paul Signac the Pointillist painter. Henri Matisse loved pattern; in particular he loved Islamic art and the way the pattern invades every plane, he wanted to create this with colour. In 1917 he left Paris and settled in Nice. His work involved still life and interiors in which he used sensitive lines, rich colours and decorative patterns. By this time Matisse had gained a high reputation as an artist and was internationally recognized. In 1941 Matisse became very ill and was unable to stand at his easel, hiring assistants to help him. They painted large sheets of white paper with gouache in the colours that he liked, for example blue in Blue Nude, 1952. Matisse sat in bed, or in his wheelchair, cutting out shapes, drawing with scissors. Sometimes he would also incorporate left-over pieces into his work, rearranging them until they were where he wanted them. He also decorated and designed the Chapel du Rosaire in Vence 1948-51. Ivy in Flower, 1954 was created during the last year of Matisse's life for a mausoleum. |
| La Cite Notre Dame etching 1937 ed 500 43x34 signed in the plate £1,300 SOLD |
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