Cathy's Art Diary

Excellent study day organised by the London Art History Society on Matisse. The course was led by Ben Street who delivered four great lectures without notes using a well thought out slides to take us through the story. The day was split up well and, although I thought I knew Matisse’s work quite well, I learnt a lot. We began by looking at Matisse’s early work, although he came to art relatively late in life for an artist, including the start of Fauvism and his role in it. We also discussed how his work doesn’t show the usual subjects of the time such as the city but chose more traditional subjects such as landscapes and still lives albeit in a radical style with strange colour combinations. We then looked at his most radical period from 1912-17 and how this was fuelled by travelling to Algiers and the role of two collectors. We talked about how he painted “Dancers” and “Music” for Serge Shchukin, the Russian textile magnet. In the afternoon we started by looking a...

Charming exhibition at the Royal Academy bringing together objects owned by Matisse and the paintings he made of them. Although there were only one or two objects in each room there was a lovely selection of paintings of them and good descriptions of how Matisse acquired and used them. I recognised many of the objects from the pictures and was fascinated to see how like the paintings there were. In particular a lovely green glass vase which I’d always assumed he was painting in a free style which made it look a bit wonky, but no it was a bit wonky! I loved the Venetian chair shaped like two shells with dolphin arms and it was interesting to see different versions in pictures, some sowing it fairly literally but others simplifying the shape to its curves. My favourite section was the one looking at the Odalisques which talked about Matisse using his studio like a theatre and creating scenes within it. It was interesting to see different interpretations of the wallpaper...

Interesting exhibition at Bernard Jacobson Gallery of works by Matisse. The show focused on a picture of Matisse in his studio from 1921 in which he shows himself in a rare self-portrait painting a model. It is shown with various studies of models and other pictures of people in interiors. I loved a picture of a woman in a green dress at a shuttered window with a Bloomsbury style painted wall under the window. There were also two delightful head studies of a girl with a hat and plaits. I was interested in an unfinished picture as I have been to some seminars at the National Gallery so it made me think about his technique and why various sections had been left. The pictures were shown with two bronze sculptures by Matisse, a lovely head study of his daughter and a crouching nude figure, as well as with a   copy of “Jazz” the colourful book of prints made using his cut out technique.   Closes on 16 September 2017  

Nice exhibition at Eames Finer Art Gallery of lithographs and etchings by Matisse. These were mainly from two series based on poems by Stephane Mallarmes and John-Antoine Nau. Matisse read poetry every day. The pictures are simple but effective, saying a lot in just a few lines. I particularly liked the wall of studies of women. They made a lovely group display yet everyone was different. Closes on 30 October 2016

Interesting exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam looking at the development of Matisse’s artistic practice with an emphasis on the cut outs of his later years. What was interesting was that I had seen the Matisse cut outs exhibition at Tate Modern last year so it was really good to see how the works were displayed by another museum and put in a different context. The ground floor of the show looked at works by Matisse in dialogue with work from work from the museums own collection and how the cut outs developed from this. This gave the opportunity to see works I didn’t know and to get an oversight of the gallery’s collection. I loved the room on the odalisques which places a Matisse’s with a Picasso and a sculpture by Laurens. It was also interesting to see a Matisse costume for a Diaghilev ballet. Upstairs gave space to some of the large cut out works including “Polynesia, the sea” and “Polynesia, the sky” from 1946. There was a lovely display of chasubles...

Colourful and fascinating exhibition at Tate Modern looking at Matisse’s work with paper cut outs. I hadn’t realised that he began using cut outs as a way of composing a picture, moving the pieces around until he had the scene he wanted and then painting it. Also that some of the pictures were designs for other such as stained glass windows, books and even vestments. I had seen them purely as a product of his creative imagination in old age. I loved the film of him working with an assistant and cutting out pieces which he then had her hold up and move around until he found the right place for it then she pinned it on. He seemed to have a very clear vision of the shape he wanted to make and cut it out with great dexterity and fluidity. There was an amazing sense of colour in the work and it was interesting to see that he didn’t just buy coloured paper but had it painted in the shades he wanted to use. I was also intrigued that one of the early works became decorat...

Fascinating exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art looking at Matisse’s use of lithographs and etchings. This exhibition was really well presented with good descriptive boards and nice chronology of Matisse’s life. I felt I was seeing beautiful works but also learning something. They also used some wonderful quotes from Matisse one of which I have to share as to me it describers portraiture so well “ I ended up discovering that the likeness comes from the contrast which exists between then face of the model and other faces, in a word from its particular asymmetry. Each figure has its own rhythm and it is this rhythm which created the likeness.” My favourite pictures were a series of the same girl in a floral dress with a stand up collar. He drew her from different angles and with different levels of finish to the work. In some he concentrates on the detail of the pattern on her dress in other he just hints at it. It was also good to see a rare set of plates from “Jazz” a ...

Small exhibition at the Courtauld of drawings of women by Picasso, Mattisse and Maillol to compliment the current Picasso exhibition. They were mainly works from the 1920s looking at the post First World War desire for regeneration, order and classical beauty. I loved a half draw woman by Picasso where he has left her right side and thigh blank but your brain fills them in. Maillol mainly did sculpture so his figures are fuller figured and well-drawn.

Nice exhibition at the Musse Rodin in Paris comparing the works of Matisse and Rodin. The two artists met in 1900 but were of different generations however there often seems to be a dialogue in their work. I loved the room on dancing. Along the middle were small figures by Rodin of dancers, some in full flight. Alongside were Matisse sketches for La Dance. I also loved four large plaques by Matisse of women’s back which had a Gauguin like feel plus a foot on top toe by Matisse.