Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs
The exhibition Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs, is a groundbreaking reassessment of Matisse’s colourful and innovative final works.
Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse (1869–1954) remains one of the leading figures of modern art and one of the most significant colourists of all time. A draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and painter, his career spanned over half a century. Matisse’s cut-outs are a brilliant final chapter in his long career.
When ill health prevented Matisse from painting he began to cut into painted paper with scissors to make maquettes for commissions. These maquettes were applied to books, stained glass window designs, tapestries and ceramics. Outlines took on sculptural form and painted sheets of paper were infused with the luminosity of stained glass. The result reflected both a renewed commitment to form and colour, and inventiveness freshly directed to the status of the work of art.
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs focuses on the paper cut-outs created by Matisse between 1943 and 1954, which will bring together over 120 pieces. Matisse’s first cut-outs were collected together in Jazz (1947 Pompidou, Paris), a book of 20 plates. This will be the first time that the Jazz maquettes and the book have been shown together outside of France.
The largest number of Matisse’s works from the Blue Nudes series ever exhibited together will also be on display and include the most significant of the group: Blue Nude I 1952 (Beyeler Foundation, Basel).
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs is on display at the Tate Modern from Thursday 17 April until Sunday 7 September 2014.
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