Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Exhibition
Henri Matisse: cutting into colour
1878
I am unable to distinguish
between the feeling I have for life
and my way of expressing it.
Overcoming the physical
limitations of ill healthhe used
a wheelchair after his operation
Matisse reinvented himself as an
artist to accommodate his disability
and moved from working with paint
to collage. Aptly calling this period
ma seconde vie, he used scissors
and water-based gouache painted
paper to create vivid cut out collages.
Film footage at the exhibition
shows the artist with a large pair of
tailors scissors cutting into painted
paper with energetic focus and
instinctive precision.
Nicholas Serota, co-curator of the
exhibition and Director of the Tate,
speaks of the apparent simplicity of
Matisses cut outs and also of their
sophistication: People sometimes
say these could be done by a child,
but its only an old man that has this
incredible freedom of mind. That
freedom seems to define the works
on display: vibrant blocks of colour
and simple, exaggerated forms
that capture an expression found
in memory and intuition. Matisse
aspired to creating art that was
tangible and could be felt by every
Jules Morgan
www.thelancet.com Vol 383 May 31, 2014
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without
permission.