“Henri Matisse (1869\u20131954) was a fighting spirit. Despite a cancer diagnosis in 1941, increasing frailty, and the confines of a wheelchair, the indomitable Frenchman never stopped in his quest to make art. With what he called une seconde vie, a second life, he embarked on a remarkable collage period, cutting and pasting pieces of colored paper into gouaches decoupees of birds, plants, flowers, and the female form. Emphasizing color and contrast, the cut-out technique generated both striking lines and vivid juxtapositions. In works such as Icarus (1943), The Blue Nude (1952), The Snail (1953), and The Sheaf (1953), clean forms and elemental structures power a compositional force that belies the work\u2019s decorative appeal, at once tightly organized and infectious with joie de vivre. As his work progressed, Matisse\u2019s excitement with his results fueled ever-larger pieces, advancing from small works to vast wall-sized murals. As his final years approached, Matisse reveled in the simplicity and brilliance of these pieces, avowing, \u201cOnly what I created after the illness constitutes my real self: free, liberated\u2026\u201d In this essential introductory book, we revisit this joyful final chapter of Matisse\u2019s long and prodigious career, examining how the cut-outs encapsulated the artist\u2019s many years exploring the possibilities of composition, form, and color.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Henri Matisse (1869\u20131954) was a fighting spirit. Despite a cancer diagnosis in 1941, increasing frailty, and the confines of a wheelchair, the indomitable Frenchman never stopped in his quest to make art. With what he called une seconde vie, a second life, he embarked on a remarkable collage period, cutting and pasting pieces of colored […]\n","protected":false},"featured_media":92938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[712],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-92939","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-xenoglossa-vivlia","pa_brand-taschen","pa_syngrafeas-gilles-neret","first","pre_order","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n