Henri Matisse

Tête de Femme (frontispiece from Portraits)

1954

The simple elegance of this original lithograph, created by Henri Matisse in 1955, is undeniably beautiful. From the edition of 2850, the print measures 12 ½ x 10 in. (31.5 x 25 cm...

About this work: Created in 1942-43, this work belongs to one of the most fertile periods of Matisse’s career as a printmaker and draftsman. By this time, Matisse had long since mast...

Henri Matisse Visage de jeune femme 1948 Aquatint on BFK Rives paper, signed in pencil and numbered 4/25. Paper size: 55.5 x 38 cms (21 7/8 x 15 ins) Image si...

Medium: original etching. Printed in 1946 at the atelier Lacouriere on BFK Rives paper and published in a limited edition of 300 for the "Alternance" portfolio (a collective art and ...

Artist: Henri Matisse Title: Iles Portfolio: Poesies Antillaises Medium: Lithograph Year: 1972 Edition: 250 Sheet Size: 14 7/8" x 11 1/8" Image Siz...

Artist: Henri Matisse Title: La Voix Tintante Portfolio: Poesies Antillaises Medium: Lithograph Year: 1972 Edition: 250 Sheet Size: 14 7/8" x 11 1/8" Image Siz...

This is a framed reproduction of "Woman's Portrait", published in 1999 by LEM with the approval of the Succession Matisse. The piece, part of the permanent collection at the Hermitag...

Lithograph on Arches Velin paper, Edition of 25 Paper size: 45 x 32 cms (17 5/8 x 12 5/8 ins) Image size: 30 x 22.8 cms (11 3/4 x 9 ins)

"Mlle Landsberg" (grade planche, pl. 16), 1914 Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) Signed and Numbered Lower Right Edition 12/15 Image size: 7 7/8 x 4 5/16 inches Sheet size: 17 11/16 x 12 1/2 inches With frame: 19 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches Henri Matisse came from a family who were of Flemish origin and lived near the Belgian border. At eight o'clock on the evening of December 31, 1869, he was born in his grandparents' home in the town of Le Cateau in the cheerless far north of France. His father was a self-made seed merchant who was a mixture of determination and tightly coiled tension. Henri had no clear idea of what he wanted to do with his life. He was a twenty-year-old law clerk convalescing from appendicitis when he first began to paint, using a box of colors given to him by his mother. Little more than a year later, in 1890, he had abandoned law and was studying art in Paris. The classes consisted of drawing from plaster casts and nude models and of copying paintings in the Louvre. He soon rebelled against the school's conservative atmosphere; he replaced the dark tones of his earliest works with brighter colors that reflected his awareness of Impressionism. Matisse was also a violinist; he took an odd pride in the notion that if his painting eye failed, he could support his family by fiddling on the streets of Paris. Henri found a girlfriend while studying art, and he fathered a daughter, Marguerite, by her in 1894. In 1898 he married another woman, Amelie Parayre. She adopted the beloved Marguerite; they eventually had two sons, Jean, a sculptor and Pierre who became an eminent art dealer. Relations between Matisse and his wife were often strained. He often dallied with other women, and they finally separated in 1939 over a model who had been hired as a companion for Mme. Matisse. She was Madame Lydia, and after Mme. Matisse left, she remained with Matisse until he died. Matisse spent the summer of 1905 working with Andre Derain in the small Mediterranean seaport of Collioure. They began using bright and dissonant colors. When they and their colleagues exhibited together, they caused a sensation. The critics and the public considered their paintings to be so crude and so roughly crafted that the group became known as Les Fauves (the wild beasts). By 1907, Matisse moved on from the concerns of Fauvism and turned his attention to studies of the human figure. He had begun to sculpt a few years earlier. In 1910, when he saw an exhibition of Islamic art, he was fascinated with the multiple patterned areas and adapted the decorative universe of the miniatures to his interiors. As a continuation of his interest in the "exotic", Matisse made extended trips to Morocco in 1912 and 1913. At the end of 1917, Matisse moved to Nice; he would spend part of each year there for the remainder of his life. A meticulous dandy, he wore a light tweed jacket amd a tie when he painted. He never used a palette, but instead squeezed his colors on to plain white kitchen dishes...

Linocut on Daragnès paper, Edition of 25 Paper size: 52 x 33 cms (20 1/2 x 13 ins) image size: 18.5 x 14.3 cms (7 5/8 x 5 5/8 ins)