Henri Matisse: Figure Color Space

by Henri Matisse (Artist), Christoph Vitali (Contributor), Pia Muller-Tamm (Editor)

No other subject inspired Henri Matisse with such passion throughout his career as the female figure in interior settings. This is the most comprehensive publication to cover the topic of women in the work of the great regenerator of European painting, and in so doing, it covers the full spectrum of Matisse's creative evolution, from the small, somber, early pictures to the masterly compositions of his Fauvist phase, the intimate pictorial inventions of the Nice period, and finally the luminous paper cutouts of his late work. Many of the interiors show women reading, sleeping or daydreaming, passive figures enveloped in Oriental fabrics, costumed as odalisques or reclining on chaise longues. Additional motifs include the artist and his model, the artist's studio, the portrait, the still-life, and the view from a window. Figure Color Space offers an in-depth survey of this important subject in Matisse's work, through which he developed and continually explored his rich and imaginative repertoire of forms and colors. Along with paintings from all periods, it includes sculptures, drawings, cutouts and prints, as well as historical studio photographs by Cartier-Bresson, Brassae, Hal ne Adant and others. A richly illustrated biography completes this exquisite presentation.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid, brilliant and original draughtsmanship. As a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but principally as a painter, Matisse is one of the best-known artists of the 20th century. Although he was initially labeled as a Fauve (wild beast), by the 1920s, he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. His mastery of the expressive language of colour and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.