art since1900modernism

antimodernism
postmodernism

^ al foster
-csalin dkrau ss
, ; e-a lainb ois
: enjaminh.d. b uchlo h

il' Thames
a Hudson
 ignorrnc

1906 rvhattl.rc'
Their'
ls far as

F r a n cefo
tn so u th e r n g e r e tr o sp e cti ves
: llo win th iiclr'ocatc
P aul C6z a n n ed ie s a t A i x -en-P rov enc e Cdzat-ttlt

S euratthe preceding year,Cezanne's deathcasts rvtrsthe

of V incen tva n Go g h and Georges irrlPrc-s'sr

as the hi s tori c alpas t' withF a u vism a s r tsh e ir . in lrr ll

P ost impr e ssio n i sm Scurilt's
inrPrcss
ttratlecl'
"t
o i th e

dictum: most passionatereplieswas "What do you think of C6zanne?" sttlLtrtst

enri Matissewasveryfond of a particularC6zanne
quoted it (N{atissedid not bother to givehis obviousanswer)'The rise ph1'siolt
"Bewareof the influential masterl" He often
Cdzanne's reputationwasthen unstoppabie: by the time he d httlt-tlttr
tradition'
when addressingthe issueof inheritanceand
in C)ctober1906,his appealwas so pervasivethat his foremost
positiol
had revisitedPoussinin order to escape from
Noting that Cdzarnne MauriceDenis( 1870-1943 rcsl'nth
in the fact that he' champion,the painter-theoretician
the sp"ellof Courbet, he would take pride
who had paradoxicallyseenhim as the saviorof the mori
sun-P
..neveravoidedthe influenceof others,,,emphasizing
Matisse,had work this rv.tr
"a tradition of Frenchclassicism-cried foul ar.rdberatedthe
the in.rportance clf Cdzannein his own formation (he is sort of case tributit
his many followersas either too derivativeor' in the
"if Cdzanneis right' I am
god of painting,""the masterof us all"; having
that he wasstrongenough Mati sse. nothi ngl essthana betrayal '
,lgt-rt,"u.td so on). But Matisse'sclaim fornlet'
is Morice's "lnvestigation" helps us to put this sudden hlpe
to assimilate the exampleof a masterwithout succumbingto it idiosvr
surrounding Cdzanne into context' He had bluntly
disingenuous when it comesto C6zanne'Unlike his friend' and "Are we kePt cc
who jauntily "ls lmpressionismfinished?"Then,more diplomatically:
fut.,r. f.llu* Fauve'CharlesCamoin (1879-1965)' tion cc
wasacutely on the eveofsomething?"and "N{ustthe painterexpectever}tnl
visitedthe agingpainterin Aix severaltimes'Matisse beenst
C6zanne represented tbr young fiom nature, or must he only ask from it the pli.rsticmeans
alvareofthe potentialclangerthat tol N Ia t
Life with a Purro I' realizethe thoughtthat is in him?" Thesequestionsr'vere
acimirerslike himself' Looking at Matisse'sStill Whistler' Fanttn- Afier ir
Saint-Tropez,both paintedin the stlmmertrf bv a requestfor an evaluationof the rvork of
or his PlacedesLices, advice
a Statement he rnadehalf a Latour,and Gauguin'aswell asthat ofCdzanne'Ifthe query
190'1,one cannot help but think of a header
a master' Gauguin rvasto be expected,sinceMorice had long been
centurylater(it wasone of his last):"When one imitates him)' those pctent
and forms r ally of the painter's(hehad coauthoredNoa-Nonwith
the techniqueof the naster stranglesthe imitator a pani,
him'" concernins Whistler arnd Fantin-Latour, testil-vingtcl N{orice's
aror.rnd him a barrierthat paralyzes yea th e n r
active participation in the Symbolist movement twenty 'l'oulo
earlier,were incongruous(as the answersconlirmed)' A rvith ir
of Postimpressionism
Th ef o u re va n g e lists savrrycritic would have juxtaposedthe names of van Gogh tlcscer
had seuratrviththoseofc6zanneandGauguininsuchaquestionnatre' ltxionr
1he year 1904was rvhenc6zirn'e, cut off from a worlc.lthat loud
for by then it had becomeobviousthat the new generation's
ricliculedhim all his life, finally attainedcelebrity.Imposingarticles h r d t,
"Yes"toMorice'sseqLlenceofanti-Impressionismquestionsrvasa''phras,
were publishedabout him (notably an essayby Emile Bernard
cumul ati veeffectofthi squartet' scoeval rvork' .lttclll
I[ 186
I a I O O8 I ); (rcd
v +9 r41]
- 1-1 rE rr w rr
) ; dealer s ot h e rth a n Amb ro i s e V o l l a rd ,h i sl oneoffi ci al ,-r,- - - AooA- ,
him (he had a one-rran It should be noted that van Gogh and seuratwerelong dead-
supportefsince1gg5,startedgamblingon that
si o n i s
Berlin); ancl in the fail, a mini-retrospective of his work the first in 1890, the second,the following year-and Yet ti-
shou,ir-r d
presentecl at the Salon d'Automne, Gauguin, rvho dieclin 1903'had been abroad for more than Po stir
(with thirty-onepaintings)rvas
(threeyearslater' decade' It comes as no surprise' therefore'that' arnongthe four
oneof thefivoannualParisiar-rartfairsof thetime ttlilst(
woul<l evangelists of Postimpressionism, c6zanne should be the mo$
in 1907,its spring equrvalent, the Salondes Ind6pe'<1ants, ing a
in size). present at this point' Iluilu
top this eventwith an exhibitiondouble l:':::"t,T:1:t;
''T:X;:::;il';;;;;ffi;;;"* ""'t'ti'l:':::1:::::t-':f
1e03andc6zanne's deathin re06'1
theatmosphere,..konwiththemail.Between sttIc I
",,"
poet-critic charles 'l er r Gogh,
van Gauguin, and Seurathad etrchbeen celebratedbll
t h e parisian lne. Tl-re
the lrtime.
at tne ur r 'r r r LJ - - - - - o' (.tt
C t the
of Pa f t s ta n a ft rvorld
art Wo fl d at ltlc P( r ct- Lr r r r L - " D '- )
, . -. , ^.:,^_- ur
(with their attendantstl'lng ^nlf::
des
trctuelles arts plastiques" severai retrospective exhibitio's ir t r pr
lv{orice,s,.E'qu€te sur lestenclances
(tnvestigation of ultr
Current Trendsin the PlasticArts) presentecl the publications),sometimes*tll tn: I l l ( )! l (
\ rrrYg5trSdtrurr ut rLrr 11:t::1"]:]":,::::::"T:l:::
to artistsof And while the personalrelationsl-rips betrveenthesefour father-
answersto ir tluestionnairethat its author had ser-rt { l ' , rt l r

.n.:1.,":1,n1j..1"g ryg-es':l tt*" :TL"''l hadbeenmarred

paintins !-ryry
yII1Tl,.:: a 190:

1 9 0 6 | P o s t i mp re ssro n i sm s l e g acy to Fauvism

 possibleto grasp the four rnajorPostin-rpressionists that if color and
had all stressed
ig,norance , ii not outrightconflict,it norvseenled
itt ctlmnlon' lir.rewereto be celebrated,
if their expressive function wereto be
whatthcl'hitc'l
had aireadydonesomeof the groundwork enhanced, they had to becomeindependentfrom the objectsthey
Theirdirectcpigot.res
concerned.Both Denisand Bernardhad depicted.Further,theseartistsshou,edMatissethat the only wayto
irsfar as art theorl'\\ras
between tl.reart of Gauguin and that of assertthis autonomyof the basicelementsof paintingwasfirst to
ndu.,.ot..la svnthesis
isolatethen.r(asa chemistwould do) and then to recornbiire them
(Izanne; but thentostimPortanteventfor Matisseandhis cohorts
signac'sD'Eugine Delacroixau neo- into a new syntheticwhole.Although Seurathad erredwhen he
rvasthe seriirlizationof Paul
(From Eugdne Delacroixto neo-Impressionism) soughtto applythis experimentalmethodto the immaterialityof
inrttressionnisnlc
in 1898.Not only did this treatisepresent Holy Grail of painters,his analysis/synthe-
light, that unreachable
in La Ril,ueblnttche
(indifferentlylabeled"divisionism" or "neo- sisprocessresultedin the apotheosis of the physical,nonmimetic
Seurat'smethod
fashion,but, as its title
in an orderly, accessible componentsof painting,and it n assucha returnto basics,Matisse
impressionisnr")
clear,it wascclnceived asa teleologicalaccount,asa genealogy wasnow readyto see,that governedPostimpressionism in general.
macle
art fiom the early nineteenthcenturvon' Therewas Becausedivisionismwas the only Postimpressionist branch that
of the"nerv"in
surprisinglvlittle emphasison Seurat'sdream or on the optical camervith an explicit method, it was a good placefrom u'hich to
(r' physiologytheorieson which it was based-the idea that the startagain.When Signacinvited Matisseto spendthe summerof
:c. humaneyecould perform sornethinglike the prismaticdecom- 1904 in Saint-Tropez,Matissewas still trying out the various
)si position of light in reverse,that the "divided" colors would mod-
dialects,but he wasa far more seasoned
Postimpressionist
resynthesizeon the retina in order to attain the iuminositl'of the ernistthanhe hadbeenin 1898.Eventhoughit wasnow harderfor
n0 sun-perhapsbecause Signachad alreadyadmittedto himself that the timing wasright.
Matisseto playthe apprentice,
0: thiswasa chimera.Rather,Signacinsistedon the successive "con-
ot tributions"of Delacroixand of the Impressionists,understoodas
Ma t is s ec o me so f a g et o le a dt h e F a u v e s 6
havingpavedthe way for the total emancipationof pure color per- O
c
formedby neo-Impressionism. Within such a context,C6zanne's As far asSignacwasconcerned, the anxiousand reluctantMatisse
I'

idiosyncratic, atomisticbrush-strokes(one color per stroke,each rvasfinallyturning out to be his bestpupil: Signacpurchascdlirxe, 6
:d O
,c
keptconspicuously discrete)were deemeda congruentcontribu- calmeet voluptdtl l, the major canvasthat N{atisse contpletedin
n$ tion consolidatingthe ban on the mixing of colors that had stiil Parisupon his returnfrom Saint-Tropez and exhibitedat the 1905
t( beenstandardpracticeduring Impressionism. SalondesInddper-rdants (whereboth van Gogh and Seurathad a
CL Matisse's6rst encounterwith Signac'sgospelwas premature. retrospective).Was it the idyllic subject n.tatterthat particularly
T'
Aftera trip to Londonin order to seeTurner'spaintings(on the seducedSignac-fir'e naked nymphs picnickingby the seashore
,t1l adviceof C6zanne's mentor, the old Camille Pissarro),he had under the eyesof a crouched,dressedMadameMatisseand those
IS!
headedfor Corsica,wherehis art-then a murky and not-so-com- of a standingchild wrappedin a towel?Or wasit the title derived
lSi
petentform of Impressionism-turned "epileptic,"ashe wrote in from C harl esB audel ai re (182l -67),a raredi rectl it er ar i'allusion
t:
a panicto a friend,upon his suddendiscoveryofsouthern light. In in Matisse's oeuvre?Whateverthe case,Signacchosenot to notice
lI,
tlre numerouspaintingshe completedin Corsicaand then in the hear,ry coloredcontourswrigglingall over the conrposititrnin
)fi
Toulousein 1898and 1899,the feverishbrush,strokesare thick defianceof his syster.r.r.But when Matissesentlc Bonheurde t'it're
with impasto,and the colorsineluctablylosetheir intendedincan- to the Salondeslnd6pendants
nd of the subsequent 1'ear,Signacwas
ra
descence as the pastesmix directly on the canvas.The cardinal incensedby preciselysuch elementsin this canvas,and b1' the
axiomof Postimpressionism (of whater.erpersuasion), that one undividedflat planesofcolor. Bettveen thesetwo events,the Fauve
u,l
had to "organizeone'ssensation,"
s,. to use Cezanne,s celebrated scandalhad takenplaceat the infamous1905Salond'Automne.
phrase,cameto Matissevia
Signacpreciselyat this point. But his As the British critic, painter, and teacherLawrenceGowing
o:,.TP, at followingthe minute
proceduresrequiredbi, the divi- remarked,"Fauvisrnwas the best preparedof all the twentieth-
slonlstsvstem,during the
l,l: next few months, remainedfrustrating. centuryrevolutions."But oneshouldaddthat it rvasalsooneof the
Yetthisfailureexacerbated
his desireto comorehendthe wholeof shortest: it lastedbut a season.True,most of the Fauveshad known
P0stimpressionism (he notably purchased,"u.rul works by its
li: each other for yearsand had long considered the older Matisseas
masters-thena consicierable
)i: financialsacrificefor him-includ- thei rl eader(betw een 1895and 1896,A l bertMarque t11875- 19471,
utga smalfpainting
lr by Gauguin an<l,above all, C6zanne,sThree Henri Manguin [1874-1949],and CharlesCamoin u'erehis col-
t'athers,a paintingfrornthe mid-
ln. to late lg70sthat he would trea_ leagues in the studioof GustaveMoreau,the only oasisof fieedom
rurelikea talisman
bt tintil he donatedit to the city of parisin 1936). at the EcoledesBeaux-Arts, andn'henhe switchedto the Acaddmie
il
with these few works and never n.rissinga post- CarridreafterMoreau'sdeathin 1898,he met Andrd Derain,who
,_!lnult,,lt
lmpressionist show constituted the major part
:!.
of Matisse,s sooni ntroducedhi m to Mauri cede V l arni nck11876- 1958]But ).
educationprior to his
lr' :{Ttt, secondbout of divisionism.He the initial spark can be traced to Matisse'svisit to Vlaminck's
ile tj:.t't:lerstood that despitemajor differencesin their art, studio,at Derain'surging,in February1905.Matissehad thenjust

Pos tr m pr es s i oni s m s l egac y t o Fa u v l s m | 1 9 0 6 71

 l l f.-
r,1
i I
il
'tf,

t"
t.
t
t'
t
;#
t T- :; j1t'**rir
-.-t

t' :
,.1
)
I

@
O
O

(-o
O
(o

;ti-*\Y*&.Ii
"*\

1 . Henri Matisse, Luxe, calme et volupt6, 19O4-s

O c r c a n'ra s. 9 8 3 x 1 l B 5 (3 8,' , r 46,t)

finished Luxe, cahneet voluptd,of which he was rightfully proud, lar, paintedshortly after his return from Collioure-provoked thi
but now he felt unsettledby the coloristicviolenceof Vlaminck's crowd's hilarity as no work had done sincethe public display
production.It would takehim the wholesummer,which he spent Manet'sOlympiain 1863,and nervsthat this infamouspainting
ivith Derainin Collioure,closeto the Spanishborder,to get over been purchased(by Gertrudeand Leo Stein) did not calm
^
Vlaminck'sjejuneaudacity.Spurredby Derain'spresence, and by sarcasmof the press.Not only did Matisse'sassociates benefitfroru
the visit they paid togetherto a trove of Gauguin'sworks, he his sr-rdden
fame,but the ideathat he wasthe headof ir new schoolof
paintednonstopfbr tbr.rrconsecutive months.The resultsof this painting crystallized,and indeed hjs art was ernulated(the initial:
strikinglyproductivecampaignwere the key rvclrksof what was Fauves weresoonjoinedby otherssuchasRaoulDufi' [1977-1953],
soonto be calledFauvism. Othon Fri esz[1879-1949],
K eesvan D ongen l l 3 77- 19681and
Upon seeingthe academicn-rarblesof a now long-tbrgottensculp- r momentarily,GeorgesBraque[1882-1963]). But whilehis acollq
tor in the middle of the room wherethe work of Nlatisseand his with tl-reexceptionof Braque,got foreverstuck in the exploitation
tl'iendsDerarin,Vlaminck, Camoin, Manguin, and Marquet was (and banalization)of the pictoriallanguageinventeddurir.rg
exhibitedat the 1905Salond'Autorr-rne,
a criticexclirimed"Donatello summerof 1905,for Matissethe Collioureexplosionhadbeenonl9
chczles fauvesl"("Donatelloamong the wild beasts!"). The label a beginning:it markedthe moment when he finally achieved
5't,sli-perhaps the most celebrated
baptismalepisodeof r.ur,entieth-synthesisof the four trendsof Postirnpressionism that had capti-
tlrr"LuTart-ilt large part becausethe uproar lvas ci-rnsiderable.vatedhirn, ancllaiclthe
ground fitr his owr.rs,vstem,
rvhosefirst fulF
\i:rii:se'sFauvecanvases-7'he Wontanwith theHot l2l in particr.r- fledgedpictorialrnanifestation
wouldbe LeBonhetn-de vivre.

72 190e I l sti ffrp re ssi o n i sm's legacy to Fauvr sm

),
lhc cxamplcKcvnr'sgivesof suchir slatcis ol'beingin kl.e:
-I'ltcapprLtprittr'sl|ft'ct-sofprl.ssittrtrttt,
cotrtt,rtrplntiott
onl
corrttttttrtiott
r+'t,rc
o bdLtycdpt'rson, lt*ttttt,tutdtruth,
tttttlorrt"sprintc ob.iectsitt li.fewcrcloye, thccrt,ntiorttuul
ett.joyntcrtto.l-acstlrctic
expcrietrctattulthc pttrsttitol
knowletlgc.

VirginiaWoolf 's recollcctionof Fry illustratcs

manvoi
Keynes's characterizatior-rs
of Bloomsbury,suchasthc pursuitof
"tinrcless,
passionate statesof contentplatiorr and cornlluni()n,
largelyunattachedto 'bcfore' and 'after' " rvhosc"value
depencled, in accordance with the principleof organicunit1, on
the stateof affairsasa n hole rvhichcould r-rotbe usefully
ar-rah'zed
into parts."Accordingly,shedcscribesFry'sinaugural
Slaclelecturesat the Queen'sHall of CambridgeUnivcrsitr.in
1933,and the effecttheyhad on their audience:

He had only to point to a passoge itra picturt ard to nlurnilff

tlrcword "plastici4;'a114a nurgicnlnnttosphcrc wascreated.
Roger Fry (1866-1934) and the Bloomsbury Group Hc ktokedlikc a fasting.friarwith a roperound hiswaist itt
spiteof hisevettittgdress:
the religionoJ'hiscont,ictiorts.
ndoubtedlythc mostpassionate supporterofadr.anced "Slirle,plcase,"lrcsaid.And tlrcrewnsthcpictttc-
| |
\J Frenchpaintingin the English-speaking world at the Rernbrandt,Chardin, Poussin, Cizatnrc-in blackand yvhite 6
li 'beginningof thetwentiethcenturywasthe Britishartistand uponthescrrcn.And the lccturerpointetl. His lorrgv,and, O
O
criticRogerFrv.It n'ashe rvho,with his 1910exhibition"Manet trenrblirtglike tlrcarturnctof sontentirauilouslysensitive
(o
and the Post-lmpressionists"at the Grafton Gallery,first insect,settleduponsonrc"rhytlt,rr'torrttrttse,"sontesequence; O
CO
introducedthe rvork ofCdzanne,van Gogh,Gauguin,Seurat, somediogonal.And thett heh'etltotl to ,rlokctlrcaudrcrrce
Matisse,and othersto an incredulousLondon public, in the see-"the gem-likenotes;tlrcaquatnarirrcs; and topazes thnt
'process coiningthe now-familiarterm "Postimpressionism." lie in tlrchollowof his stttingou,ns;hleachingtfu lightsto
ile followedthe showwith a secondin 1912,againat the evanescetft pall<trs."Sonrchowthe black-and-v,ltiteslidcon
Grafton Gallery,,"The SecondPost-lmpressionist Exhibition." tlrcscrecnbecamcrndiatrtthrottghtln' ntist,rurdtookott tltt'
i' Fry wasone of the most prominent men-rbers of the grain atu.ltextureo.l-tlrcocttutlcnnyos.
,''r .,Bloomsbun'Group, a shiftingcommunity of artistsand rvriters Hc nddedon the spuroJ'tlu:nlotnenlwlnt hc had.justsecn
' :. in london during
the openingdecadesof the twenticth century asif-.litrtlrcfrst tinrc.That,pcrlnps, w(1sthc secreto.fhis hold
..?l
',, that included
the novelistVirginia Woolf and her husband ovcr ltisarulitttce.Tlrcycould secthe scnsotiott strikcand
l::'.,konard;her sister,the painterVanessaBell,and Bell'slover
fornt;lrccoild lay ltaretlrcveryntontentof perception. So
, .DuncanGranti the Stracheybrothers,Jamesand Lytton, both with pnusesnnclspurtsthc worlclof spiritualreolityenrergecl
' .,.irriters;and the economist john lvlaynard Keynes. in slide{ter slide-in Poussin, in Chnrdin,in Renfurandt,itt
aestheticism and passionfor avant-gardeFrenchart
tht , ,.;,1:i ffs Clznnnc-in itsuplandstntd itslowlands,all connectcd, oll
i. .. -:'f,66q6{part of the Group's
model for a life devotedto the sonrchov,
rnadewlnle ond t:ntirc,upon thegreatscreettirt tltt
i0i
had .,,Thu,.*alysis of scnsation and of consciousness. As the poet Queen'sHall.
StcphenSpenderdescribedit: ,,Not to
regarclthe French
the " funPressionist post-lmpressionist Fry'sconr.ictionthat aesthetic
experiencc couldbe
and paintersassacrosanct,
:0lll tlot to bean agnosricand in politics communicated by bringinganotherto perceivea work'sorganic
a Liberalwith Socialist
rl of bantrps,wasto put <,ncself unity,and its accompanying featureof "plasticity,"led to a st1'le
outsideBloomsbury.,,In his l gjg
iti.ri . yy EarlyBr'licfr,"Kevnesrried ro conveythe sensibility ofverbalexpositionfbcusedexclusively on the formalcharactcr
i..r Ty
Group: ofa givenrvork.Consequently, his writing hasbeenlabeled
''! -ot{he "fbrmalist."Tryingto conveyFry'spursuitof perceptual
J
lnu. maftereclcxct,ptstate
: . f: : 31j"S s of ntind,oLtrojrn anrl otlrcr imr-ncdiacy,Woolf recountshis wordsaboutlookingat 1-rictures:
k't ofcourse,l,urdicJll, our "l spentthe afternoonin the Lor.rr.re.
orrrr.ThesesttttesoJ ttirtd I tried to forgetall mv idears
' ".: .'.: f,€rs4ot associatetl
I:;i..
tl(nl \rt It octtonor ncltieyentert or v,itlt and theoriesand to look at everythingasthoughI'd nevcrseenit
thc TIrcycotrsisted irt tinrcless,passiorrnte sttttesoJ before.. . . It's only so that one canrnakediscoveries.. . . Each
,t.:r:|.,.,,Y|"ence.s.
rrand conw r utti on, Iarge11,trn
lru) ..:,1,,.
-...Y\htio nt tncltetl to rvorkmust be a nen'anda nameless experience." possibleto
It is
q?ore"antl "after."
th' ..ii; ,.,.. Tltcir vtilttcrli-pende,l, in (lccoftlLlrcc discoverFry'scaptr-rre of this "nerv expcrience"
and nameless it.l
'.,,j : .}:t tfte principleo.forg(uncr!ttit),,ot1tlte state atul
,,, o.faJfairsastt thc essavs he lvrote, someof which arecollcctedin \tisiotr
'nti"
't wholcwhich could
ir-..;r:::. ntotbc use.fiill'nnall,zcdinto parts." Dcs(rr(I920) and Trans.formntirnrs (I926).
ullt r.{!.. ..

Pos ti m pr es s i oni s m 's l egac y t o Fa u v i s m | 1 9 0 6 73

 from irnyline of dernarcation)chc'rsen
asa point of cleparture,
myriad dots beingpatientlyaddedin a sequence 4' H enrt
preordained
fho oPe
the "law of contrasts,"Nlatisse
found out that he could not fott_l .:.,
.lll c
'
this myopic,incrementalprocedure.As is madeclearby oneof
few unfinished canvases from the Fauve season, portrait
];
Madame Matisse[3], Matisse, like C€zanne,works on ull areas$
his pictureat onceand distributeshis color contrastsso that
ther
echo all over the surface(note, fcrr example,the rvay the trir*
orange/green-ocher/red-pink is disseminatedar.rdcallsin turnfor
variousneighboringgreens). Thereis a gradualprocess, to besure,
but it concernsthe levelof color saturation:a color harmony
ir
determinedat first in a subduedntode (it was at this point that
Portrait oJMadameMafl-sse was interrupted),then it is heatedut.
all parts of the canvasbeing simultaneously brought to a higher
pitch. Would the public of the Salon d'Automne have found
The Woman with the Har lessoffensiveif Matissehad shownwith
it this abandonedwork?Would the piercingdabsof vermilioq
the palettelikefan, the rainbow mask of the face,the harlequil
background,the dissolutionof the veryhat'sunity into a shapelesl
bouquet,the teiescoped anatomy,as seenthrough a zoom lens_
would all this have seemedlessarbitraryto the laughingcrowd
if Matissehad allowedthem a glimpseat his rvorkingmethod?
Nothing is lesscertain.The Open Vrindow[4], nor,vperhapsthe
most celebrated of the Fauvecanvases, was no lessdecriedat the

2 . Henri Matisse,The Womanwith the Hat,1905

O cnc anv as 8 l 3 x 6 0 3 1 3 2 x 2 3 . t )

l \rl at iqc o'c e\/atorn

What one witnesses first in Matisse'sFauveoutput is the progres-

siveabandonrnent of the divisionistbrush-stroke:Matisseretains
fion-rSigrrac'stutoring the useof pure color and the organization
of the picture plane through contrastsof complementarypairs
(this is what ensuresthe picture'scoloristictension),but he relin-
quishesthe most easilyrecognizablecommon denominatorof
(ldzanneand Seurat:their searchfbr a unitary n.rodeof notation
Sa l o n ,
(the pointillist dot, the constructivestroke) that could be used
parent
inciifferentlvfor the figuresand the ground.And othermajor traits co n tp l
of Postimpressionism are summoned:from Gauguin and van c\piln(
Gogh, flat, unmodulatedplanesof nclnrnimeticcolor and thick Sh o
contourswith a rhythnt of their olvn; from van Gogh'sdrawir.rgs, a ,teh i cr
differentiationof the effectof linear marksthrough variationsin th a t r r
theirthicknessand theircloseness to one another;from C6zanne, a r i zcti I
conceptionof the pictorialsurfaceasa totalizingfieldwhereever.,t- ,tr lrlrr,
thing, eventhe unpaintedwhite areas,playsa constructiverole in ltrou t
bolsteringthe energvofthe picture. c. l 9 {)
The rnornentwhen N{atisse "gets"Cdzanne-and stopsmerely l ()()K U (
tryrng to irnitate him, as he had done in the past-is also his r ) u t( ) l
far*vell to the tedium of pointillism:while Signachrrdadvocated :ttftti .,
3 . Henri Matisse, Portrait of Madame Matisse ffhe Green Line),1g}s
fillingthe compositionoutrvardfrom anv area(or rrore preciselv, Oi lon canvas4A 6x'32.4 (16x 12.'l (
- tu ,tl

1 9 0 6 | P o s t i m p re ssi o n i sm,s l e g a cy to Fauvr sm

It 4'Henri M a t i s s e '
1gos
)\ ThaOPenWindow'
Jj'"''lrl 5r 2 x 4ti
,-ir '
'li
,:1 X1:
lc

l).:

)l
lf

d
)t'

e,
ir
,ll

:r'
ii

d
h
n,
n
s5

'd
(o
li O
O
te
(o
It O
(c

Salon,and yet it is iessaggressive than the others,and more trans- drawing,he had beencomplainingto Signacthat in his rvork,and
parentabout its procedures:it is particularly'n Luxe,cttlnrcet volupt(,so cherishedbv the older
easyto sort out the pairs of
complementary colorsthat structureit, makeit vibrateand visually artist,the two componentsweresplit and evencontradictingeacl-r
expand,andthat orderour gaze
neverto stop at any givenpoint. other.Now, tl-rroughhis equation"qualitv- quantity,"ashe often
Shortlvafter the Fauve salon,
Matisse,reflectingupon his irut it, he understoodwhy for Cdzannethe traditionalopposition
achievement of the past few months, stumbled upon an axlom betweencolor and drarvingwas necessarily annulled:sinceany
thatwouldremain
onehis guidelines ali his life.It canbe summa_ singlecolor can be modulatedby a mere changeof proportiol.t,
the statement, ,,o;.
;;;; ;;;; or any blLreis not any divisionof a plair-rsurfaceis in itself a coloristicprocedure.
"':1or
as blueasa squaremeter
of the sameblue,,,and indeed,speaking "What countsmost with colorsarerelationships. Thanksto them
aboutthe red planes
of hrsInterior at Collioure(The Siesttt)tron and therr alonea drawir.rgcan be intenselycoloredwithout there
Matissewould marvel at the fact that, although they being any needfor actualcoior," wrote Matisse.In fact,it is very
i^ -1nol*l
tooked to be ofa differenthue,
they had all beenpaintedstraight probable that Matissemade this discoveryabout color while
outof thesame
tube.Discovering u'oodcutsin the beginning
that color relationsareaboveall rvorkingon a seriesof black-and-white
relationswasa ma;or step.Struckby a statement of 1906, and then set himself up to apply or to verif it in
fltt-guuntity
t]" t.a. .i"r, rhefoundatio,rur u,riiy"lt: .:t:;' ;;; LeB onheurdevi vre[51.
\| -

Pos ti m pr es s i oni s r n's l egac y t o Fa u v i s m | 1 9 0 6 75

 tt,":
hassl
r.i .:ti
obscr
J
ing, I
thatt
torc.{
the fi
thcm
otl l h
nati()
kissir

\r1 virt ui
thc ct
istir r
{
ps.vcl
i.{.rcc
*xui
thitt .
tl()lllr
thc cr

-ir* -2,*(or
g'r,95 -:;'
5 . Henri Matisse, Le Bon heur de vivre (The Joy of Life), I 906
O I o n c a n v as 1 74 x 2 1 0 i 6 8 ,'. x 94t|r )

A p a r r i ci dein p a in t Scholarshave painstakinglypursued the vast array of sources

The largestand most ambitious work he had painted so far,
LeBonheurdeyivreconstitutedhis soleentry at the 1906Salondes
Ind6pendants.
Six monthsafterthe Fauvescandal,the stakeswere
high:it rvasall or nothing,and Matissecarefullyplannedhis com-
p<.rsition
in the most academicfhshion,establishing first the decor
fion.rsketchesmadeat Collioureand thenplanting,oneby one,the
hguresor groupsoffiguresthat he hadstudiedseparately. But ifthe
elaborationof this vastmachinehad beenacademic, the resultr,vas
not.Neverhadflat planesof unmodulatedpurecolorbeenusedon
sucha scale,with suchviolent clashes of primarv hues;neverhad
contoursso thick, also paintedin bright hues,dancedsuch free
arabesques; never had anatomiesbeen so "defbrmed," bodies
melting together as if made of ntercury-except perhaps in
Gauguin'sprints,which Matissehad revisitedduring the summer.
\Vith this bombshell,he wanteddefinitivelyto rurn overa pageof
the Westerntradition of painting.And to makesurethat one got
the nressage,
he rei'forced it by rneans.f a ciinnibalistic
trttackat
thc iconclgraphic
level.
that Matisse convoked ir-r this canvas. Ingres is predomi
(he had a retrospectiveat the 1905 Salon d'Automne, with his
The TurkishBath and The GoldenAge prominently displayed),al
is the Postimpressionistquartet;but Pollaiuolo,'f itian,Giorgione,
Agostino (,arracci, Cranach, Poussir.r,Watteau, puvis de Cha-
vannes,MauriceDenis,and many more paintersarealsoir.rvited to
this ecumenicalbanquet. New guestskeep being discovered;
the wholepantheonof Westernpaintingseemsto be quoted-back
to theveryorigin,sinceevenprehistoriccavepaintingcanbe traced
in the contoursof the goatson the right. This medlevof sources
goeshand in hand with the stylisticdisunityof the canvasandthe
discrepanciesof scale-yet further rulesof the pictorialtradition
that Matissedeliberately
upsets.
And that is not a1l:behindthe paradisiacalinrageryof the frolick-
ing nymphs,behindthe happvtheme(the foy of Life),the painting
hasa somberring to it. For if the pastoralgenreto ivhich the canvas
refers establisheda direct connection between physical beautv,
visualpleasure,and the origin of ciesire,
it wasalsobasedor-ra solid
ar-rchoring
of sexualdifference-somethingthat,asNlargaretWerth

1 9 0 6 | P o s t i mp re ssi o n sm's l e gacy to Fauvism

 trlatisse perturbsherein countless ways.werth startsby At all levels(forrnal,stylistic,thentatic),the paintilg is parri-
h.rssho$,n,
that the shepherd flutist,the onll'male figurein thepaint- cidal. The dancersof Lc Bonheurde yiyrecelebratethe definite
ohsr.rring
beenconceived as a female nude; s1-re
then notes topplingof a dreadedauthority-that of the academiccanor.r legis-
irq, harlinitiallv
of the other flutist, tl-relargenude in the latedbv the EcoledesBeaux-Arts. But Matisselet us know that the
tharthc scilral attributes
alsrlclearly female in a study,weresup'ressed;that all resultingfreedon-ris r.rotwithout risks,fbr lvhoc-verkills the sym-
firrcg,rounrl,
counterPalts or form couples,but that all of bolicfatheris leftrvithoutguidanceandmust endlesslyreinventhis
thefigurcseitherhave
tl'on.rthe shepherd and the "Ingresque"nude standing own art in order to keep it alive.As such,this canvasopensthe
rhenr-apart
de-anatomized'(Theculmi- gatesof twer.rtieth-centuryart.
on theleft,gazingat the spectator-:rre
assault on the body is proYidedby the couple
nirtionof thissadistic F T J BT !EB R EAD IN G

kissingin the fbregr ound, two bodies-olle of indetcrntinatesex- R oger Benj am i n M atr s s es 'l i ol es c f aPantl et C ti ttc s r r tT ttea'/ ar ,dC )a t i i e x1! d 9 1 , 1 9 A 8

r.irrualh,melded with a singiehead')The montagelikenature of ( AfnAr bor U M i l es ea'c hP.es s 1987i

C ather i neC .Boc k H er r i M ar s s ear dl \eoi r r ,or es s i on/s m789,i 1908l An n A rb o r U N 4 l
rheconrposition, '"vith"disjunctivetransitions"that are"character- R es ear c fPr es s I 981)
isricof dreanrimagesor hallucination," leadsWerth to constructa Yve-Alain Bois. [,,{atsse ar.l Arche dr;]vr'ir_q.
Par)tDq ar iva,le {Ca[ri:rdg,..l,,,1assMlT

psvchoanahtic interpretationof the painting as a phantasmatic Pre:rs 19901and On l\y'ai,sseThe B rfdlfg Octobe/ no 68. Sprifg 1994
Judi Freeman (ed.),Ihe farve lai rds.rape{NewYorkrAblrevre Pr-.ss 1990)
\crcen,a polysernicimage conjuring up a scriesof contradictory R i c har dShi ff N 4i i r KN l oi f l ,y 'ater al tv r T heC ez ar neF i i ec tr ntl r - .T '/r 'e f t e t h O e f t u ry
n Fe l x
sexualdrivescorresponding to the polymorphousinfantilesexuality Baulnannei a. Cezanne Ftnt..lt-.d,/U/rfr)si
re.Jiosll ldern Fllt f atl-.Ca,rtzVeriall 20001
(narcissism' auto-eroticism,
sadism,exhibi- Margaret Werth. EnqendernglrnagrnaryN4ode.nlsmHef r lu4atrss€ de //vre '
-cBon/,.err/
thatl-reuduncovered
Ger der s r o 9 Aui ur nn1990
tionisrn)-a that
catalog revolves around the Oedipuscompiexand
c as t r ati oann x i e ty .
th cco nc onr it ant

(o
O
O
t,
(o
O
(c

f)

NI

1l!

il:

.1.

il'

t:
tl:
-l
.i

fi:

Pos l i m pr es s i oni s m 's l egac y to Fa u v i s m | 1 9 0 6

 1910
at the salond'Automne P a r is:
HenriMatisse'sDanceil and Musicarecondemned
to an extreme,creatingan ex
"decorative"
oictures,Matissepusheshis conceptof the
to behold'
visualfieldof colorthat is difficult

y picturethrew me out onto the streetsl"Matissedeclared

to a friend who was surprisedby his impromPtu visit'
Two daysearlierthis friendhad left him carefuliyprepar-
ing his materialand,stockpilinggroceries, vorvingto lock himself
up for ir n.ronthin orderto realizean importantcommissionhe had
just received-and now Matissefelt he could not add a single
'l'hepicture in questionwas
stroketo his hastilvbrushedcanvas.
"in a
either Sevllle Still Life or SpanishStill Life t I l, both painted
(o "This
fever"in December1910whilethe artistlvasrestingin Spain'
o sayof the pair'
I is the work of a nervousman," Matissewould later
(o and incleedthereis perhapsno more agitatedpaintingin his entire
(o
productionthanthesetwo stilllifes'
The circr.rmstances clf their making are worth recalling'Coming
backto Pariselatedfrom a trip to Munich, lvherehe had goneto see
the first major exhibition everdevotedto Islamic art, Matissewas
confrontedlvith an almost unanimouslynegativecritical response 1 . Henri Matisse, Spanish Stiil Life,1910-11
to Dancell t2land Musicl3l,thecanvases he had sentto the 1910 O on c anv as , 89 x 1 16 ( 35 x 45 /,,) \.ll

th .
Salond'Autornne,the annualshowcase for contemporaryart estab-
for a wholemonth he wasunabieto sleepor {c(
lishedsevenyearsearlier(his solesupporterwasthe poetGuillaume for Suain.where
There,he receivedShchukir-r's latestcommissionfor two still \rt
r Apollinaire,fbr rvhom he felt no sympathy).By then he wasusedto
(rvhichwould be very handsornely paid), as well asthe news nl
sr.rch turmoil surroundinghis work, to someextenteventhriVingon
hit him hard' Not only did it DanceII and Masichad arrived in Moscow ("I hopeto
saf'ely L).1
it; but this time the hostileconsensus
Shchukinrvrote). /i
catch Matisseat a moment when he lvas particularlyfragile (his to like them one dav,"
Rather than taming his style for the nerv comnlission,Mat
fatherhad died a dayafterhis return to Paris),it alsohad an immedi-
true "all or nothing"-in carrvingone
ate effecton his most collrageousand faithful patron, the Russian took a hugegamble-a A
namely the decorativeprofusion that
collector SergeiShchukin,who had commissionedthe two large featuresto the extreme,
paintings and had been enthusiasticallyfollowing their progress characterized many of his works from the previousvears,such
which alreadybelongedto Shchukitt"
from atar. Shchukin arrived in Paris in the midst of this public the 1908 Harmony in Rerl,
(rvhich was very far tiom beingthe
uproar, and, balking, decidedat the eleventhhour not to accept As if he had nothing to lose
case),Nlatisseref'used to retreattoward the neoclassical conceptlon
them. (Addingto Matisse'sinjury, his dealersborrowedhis studioto
represented by Puvis:it is asifhe rvarninghis
rr'ere
displaythe rvork they had convincedShchukinto purchaseinstead, ofthe decorative
patron-lvho had suddenlv become worried about the nudityot
the largegri-saille sketchfor a mural by Puvisde Chavannes')
rvhatwii: calledat the
Feelir-rgguilty on his u'ay back to Moscolv, Shchukin sent a the figurestn DartceII and Mrtslc,and about
a still lite could be justas
telegramrescindinghis decisionand askingfot DanceII and Mtrsic time their "Dionysian" character-that
to be shippedat greatspeed,follorvedby a lettercancelingthe pur- visuallydisquieting. One couldevenarguethat' in proposingSevilld
welkness' StillLife and spttnishStillLtJ-e to Shchukinimr.r-rediatell' afterthetwo
chaseof the Puvisanclapologizingfor his n.romentary
hard to slvallow'Nlattss€'"
Tl.reimntediateclangerof the end of Shchukin'ssLlpportlvas panelsthe Russiancollectorhad found so
\"{ullingover wasdeliberatelyalternating between tlvo modes-one austere'one
arverted, but ltlatissewasshakenby theseabout-faces.
sidesof the
tl.refickleness of collectorsand the treachervof art dealers,he lefi swarming-as if to dernonstratethat they rveretwo
a 1!ril ':ll

100 1910 | Ma ti sse d e ve l o p s his "aesthetic of blindlng

vc

q
O
t,
q
,c

lr Hairf M.tisso, Dance tl, 1910

Oiloncanvas.260 x 391 (101 /, x 153:')

samecoin.The prior holdingsof the ShchukinCollectionsuggest sobrietyof this largecomposition.But this differencedwindles
thatthismighthavebeena consistentstrategyon the part of Matisse onceactualscaleis takeninto consideration. For rvhenconfronted
i ork {compare the sparse1908Gameof BowLsand the 1909Nymph and with Muslc'sone hundred-plussquarefcetof saturatedcolor,and
lift' .ktyrwith Harmonyin Red,boughtshortlybeforethe still-lifecom- its friezeof five musiciansevenlydistributedon the surface,once
thll mission);and Shchukin'ssubsequentpurchasesfollowedthe same againone stumblesupon an aporiaof perception:eitherone tries
'onk pa[ern (comparethe austerel9l2 Conversatiotlwithl/rc painter's of
the figuresone by one but cannotdtt so because
to contemplate
Familyor ThePink Stuclio
of 1911, bought at the sametime ). the sheercoloristicsutrmons of the rest of the canvasior, con-
Itli{t versely,one attemptsto take in the vast surfaceat a glancebut
ofit' An*aesthetic
of blindinq,, cannot prevent the optical vibrations that are causedb,'-the
: l'u( figures'vermilion forms as they clashwith the blue-ar.rd-green
ch,t' Hath.,Sa,i/leSrillLife andSpanisltStill Lifearedifficult to behold- ground from deflectingour graspof the visualfield. Figureand
ukin thatis, the viewercannot
gazeat their pullulating arabesques and ground constantlyannul eachother in a crescendo of energies-
o thi colorflashes for verylong.As had alreadvhappenedin Le Bonltettr that is,theveryoppositior.r
a upon whichhumat.rperceptior-r isbased
tf-t-*
- but now m uch m o re s o , th e s ep a i n ti n g s
ltit1f a p p e arl o spl n is deliberatelydestabilized-and our vision ends up blurred'
,nhii beforetheel/e;
nothingthereeverseemsto come to rest.Flowers, blindedbv excess.
t) ii. pots pop up like bubbles
that dissolveinto their busy, This "aesthetic of blinding"wasalreadyin placein 1906-it was
::t:'*.d
It th Ua.ct<ground as quickly as one managesto isolatethem. the resultof Matisse's
ffjlf8 complexnegotiations, during the heydal'of
rne centrality
lsti' of the figure is dismantled:the vierverfeelscom- rFauvism, rvith the iegacyof Postin-rpressionism. But it assumeda
a lookat . , . r y n h ,n g
'rrilji Tl l " a t o n c e ,
a t th e w h o l ev i s u a l
fi but
etd, new urgency around 1908, at which Matisse
tin-re reflectedupon it
et$, 'r mf $ametime feclsforcedto rely on peripheral
lheltpense vision to do so,at in his famous "Notes of a Painter,"one of the most articulateartis-
.rtijii of controloverthat very
field. of the trventiethcentury.There,amongotherthings,
tic n.ranifestos
, rtlF
this turbulencewith Music the diffractionof the gazethat he rv.isaimingfor as
,f th' o.'';; ;;;;; J;. ;,ffi';i,,il:'lil':;:
JT::Tli*
T,5T"",0
t3t. At first sight Matisse defined
the coreof his conceptof expressiot.t: "Expressitln,fbr me,doesl.tot

M ati s s e dev el ops hi s " aes theti c o f b l i n d i n g " | 1 9 1 0 lOl

 tact
the
rhy
1'ur
I
ces:
it sr
.lis1
qi/
crf
Pic'
,.t$
th c
icri
iiot
Ititr

(o

I
(o
@

3. HenriM a t i s s e M
, u s i c ,1 9 10
O on c an v a s2 6 0 x 3 B g( 1 0 1' , x 1 5 3 1 1 ,)

residein passionsglowing in a human faceor manifestedby a to the traditionalregimeof mimetic identificationwasno longer
violent movement. The entire arrangementof my picture is available option (on thispoint he wasconcurringwith Picasso).
expressive:the placeoccupiedby the figures,the empty spaces pi cturei s not the depi cti onol a bucol i cscene,nor is it an a
around them, the proportions,everl,thinghasits share."In other What are thesehuge creaturesdoing, feedinga turtle they do
rvords,ashe would keepsayingall his life, "expressionand decora- evenlook at?We cannotunderstandthe motive of their action
tion areoneand the samethine." more than they seemable to communicateit among them
The spectatoris left to ponder over the enigmatic"expression"
the standingnudeor that ofher seatedneighbor.But no clueis
M a t i ssea n swe r sthe youngerP icasso
by their surroundings.For the frrsttime in Matisse'swork the
Many factorscontributedto the suddenacceleration of Matisse's is reduced to modulated bands of plain color. as in Bvza
art and theoreticalsophisticationin 1908.One of them, perhaps mosaics:greenfor the grass,blue for the water,blue-greenfor
the most important,washis competitionwith Picasso.In the fall sombersky-a cipherof a landscape, frontally facingus.This is
rof 1907he had seenles Demoiselles d'Avignon,Picasso'sdirect uninhabitableworld, into which we arenot invited.
. answerto both his Le Bonheurde yiyreand his Blue Nucle.The Shchukinhad perceivedthe profoundmelancholyof this
paintinghad madeMatisseuneasy)in part becauseit had carried and,saddened that it had beensold to anothercollector,he
primitivismfurtherthan any of his own previousattempts,and he Matissefor a substitute.That rvasto be Gameof Bou,Is,a far
hadto respond. powerfulpainting,but indicativeof the directionMatisse's
His first reply was the largeBatherswith a Turtle [4], one of his
rvasto take.The "landscaDe" is asbareas in Batherswith a T
barestand eeriestcanvases (the primitivism of the central,standing
(though the color spectrumis much lighter), but now
nude has beennoted by all commentators). CounteringPicasso's rhyhrns set the compositionin motion (the three dark-h
'\{edusa effect,"\{atisse
turned the glareof his giant nuclesaway headsof the plaversbeing ironicall,vechoedby their three
1t'omfhg beholder-but not without signalingthat a simpleretreat bowls). There are no mvsteriousexpressions here:the d
a 19.1:-?C6

t02 t0 his "aesthetic

| Matisse develops of blinding"
 picrsstr'sLtsDct.rtoiselles areno iongerMatisse'sconcern; to look at an actionfrom a distance;instead,we u'ill be confror.rted
laccsof
pf thg borvlersare written in shorthand'The visual with a wall of paintingforcingits colorsaturationonto us.
,i* ,nurur.r
*'.n', rr,hoseitrnction was Still embryonic in Batherswith a A certain form of violenceis implied by this kind of address.
-Turtlaisnorr Todav,afterso manv pagespraisingMatisseasthe painter of "hap-
tr'hrtuni6esthecallvas'
- -The in Red l5l' Matisse'sfirst fully suc- piness"(or, conversely, beratinghis "hedonism"),the particular
next stc'P\\'asHttnnony
of rvhatwould be his lifelong pictorial proglam: qpe of aggressiveness embeddedin his art is somewhatveiled.But
ccs*fuIrealization
that our gazereboundsfrom it; a compositionso the fiercelynegativeresponsethat he receivedat the time-which
s,Urfacesotense
r
dispcrsed, so rippledrvith echoesin al1directions,that we cannot kept accelerating
from the receptionof Luxe,calmeet voluptl at the
a mazeso energeticthat it alwa)'sseemsto 1905SalondesInddpendants, through the Fauvescandalof 1905
s|zeatrt selectivell';
made one last attempt at painting in and the criesthat greetedLe Bonheurde vivrein 1906and BlueI'hde
Lrnd laterallr'..\latisse
in his Nymph and Satyr of late 1908 in 1907,to the nearly universalcondemnation of Dance Il and
niasro', centripetalmode
one of his very few paintingswith a violent Musicrn 1910-is a clearindicationthat he wastouchinga sensitive
{ggainfor Shchukin),
exception (matchedonly by a nerve.What becameobviousin the caseof the receptionof these
&rme. But this rvasto remain an
the same theme last two works is that it was preciselyMatisse'sconceptionof the
rries of drawingsand unfinished canvaseson
for The of
Statiotts the Crossceramic "decorative"that was perceivedas a slapin the faceoftradition-
ftom 1935,andby the studies
p4lel in theVenceChapelfrom 1949):afterit, n'ewill not be asked the tradition of paintingaswell asthe tradition of beholding.

(o
O
I

'erm,
.Tt*
904::
l n0,
I a{f.
elv*,
nu-
gvd:
Jed
nur;
rrth;
isrs
:
r,'oti
$kd.
rld
w0*,
ttt#
)rtd
,aireu
arL, , --_:*'.6ffir't'n:j%

g# wirha rurile, 1eo8

G;"*::3^'8ethers
- _ ,sr,/y.r
oid xZ Z A 3 ,7 n/
ru - .' .x87,/)

M ati s s e dev el ops hi s " aes theti c o f b l i n d i n g " | 1 9 1 0 103

 r.rotionof the "decorative."Looking at it, we are condemne4
endlessmotion, forbiddento let our gazeeverbreakthe ci
round of its feverisharabesque. from this
The only escape
frenzyis to recoil,just asMatissehad done,panickedin front of
own Spanishstill lifes.Yet Music is more powerful, though in
subtlerfhshion,in this interdictionto join in peacefuily.
Like Picasso'sLesDemoiselles, this paintinghad begunasa
scene,the five musicians(amongthem a woman) lookingat
.:,.,:
other,interacting.In the final canvas,the figures,now all male, r:r'ii
undergonethe sameninety-degreerotation that Leo Steinberg ii
cussedin Picasso's painting:stiltedin their pose,ignoring
other, they stareterri$'ingly at us. Matissehimself is said to
t
been afraid bv what he called the "siience" ofthis canvas: in i
with the sweepingmovement of DanceII, in Music eveq4hing
arrested.The blackholesof the threesingers'mouthsareunequi
callymorbid (closerto signalingdeaththan sound);the violi
5 . Henri Matisse, Harmony in Red,19Og bow poisedbeforethe dorvnstroke is nothingbut ominous.In
O i l o n c an va s, I 8 0 x 2 2 0 l 7 A /' x 86 i.) review of the Salon, Yakov Tugenhold, one of the most
Russiancritics of the time (Shchukinpaid carefulattentionto
H y p n o ti c"d e co r ations" prcrse),describedthe figuresof Musicas "boy werewolvesh
It r,vasnot by char.rce that Matisse'sdealershad beenquick to offer tized by the first-everstrainsof the first instruments."No
(o a Puvis in replacement for his two panels.High expecta- rnetaphorcould betterindicatethat in this canvasNlatisseis
Shchukin
O
I tions lverevestedin the notion of the "decorative"at that very ing the sameFreudianterritory as Picassohad done in his
(o nloment, the 1910 Salon marking the climax of the numerous scene, for, even more than les Demoiselles,Mlrslc is akin to
(o
debatesthat had been ragingon the issuesincethe turn of the r image of the Wolf-Man's dream. We have to add a proviso
centurv(it wasdeemedcapableofrestoringthe greatness ofFrench Tugenhold'smetaphor, however:it is not the musiciansbut
art after the crisisof representationengenderedby Postimpres- spectators who arehlpnotized.
sionisrnand further deepened by Fauvismand Cubism).A return l'his hlpnosis is basedon a penduium in our perception
to Puvis-"decorative" compositionsdraped in a neoclassical makesus switchfrom our incapacityto focuson the figuresto t
rhetoric-was calledfor, but this is exactlywhat Matisserefused of seizinsthe whole visual field at once,an oscillationthat
to condone.He labeledDanceII and Music "decorativepanels" the very invention of N{atisse'sconcept of the "decorative,"
when sendingthem to the Salon,and this enragedthe critics:the which is particularlydifficult to obtain in a sparsecomposition.It
paintingswere not macieto soothethe eye,to gentlyadorn a wall; thus not surprisingthat Matisseshouid have preferredthe
theylverethe crudeproduct of a madman,posterlikebacchanals crowded mode as a surefire means to keep the beholder's
that threatenedto swirl out of their frame. moving. It should be noted, however,that he never totally
The high-pitchedcolor was obviously a major causeof this resis- quished the barren versior.rof the decorative, that it plaved a majot', b

tance,but it would not havehad suchan impactif it had not beenfor role in his production at severalkey momentsof his career,mo$
the ample scaleof the works (not only are they largebut also the notably when his rivalry with Picassolvas at st.rke.One such
ir
rl
nuntber of elementsthey displayare reduced:in eachcanvasthere moment wasrvhenhe wastrying to learn the languageof Cubism'
are only frve figuresof the same"lobster" color, as lvassaid at the from 1913to i9l7 (after which he retreatedto Nice and into
it
time, and tlvo backgroundzones-blue for the skyand greenfor the Impressionism until 1931,w'henthe conjoinedcommissious of an
land). In fact,the coloristicimpactof Dance11and Muslc which ilh.rstratedMallarmd book ancl that of a mural on the theme of P
of r(
remainedunequriledin painting until the large canvasesof Mtrrk Dancefor the BarnesFoundationled him backto the aesthetics
tr
r Rothkoand BarnettNewmanin the lateforties,provicledthe clearest his youth). From Matisse's"Cubist" yearsclateworkssuchas Frenth
{)
confirmation of Matisse'sprinciple accordingto which "a square Winrlowin Collioure (19 I 4 ) or TheYellowCurt(litI ( c. I 9 I 5), sostrik'
b,
centimeterof blueis lessbluethana squaremeterof thesameblue." ingly similar, once again,to works by Rothko or Newman,or lllr
i(
But if the arrticlassical decenterednessof these works was B IueW i ndow(1913)and TheP i anoLesson (191 6) whose, onein(
perceivedas a threat,trnd criticizedin Musicevenmore than in r atmosphere poetAndr6Bretonfound soappeaiing'
theSurrealist
DattceII, it is alsobecause
r'viththem Matissefinailvfound a means The'"vorksimrlecliatelyfbllowing DanceIl and Mlrslc,however'
to emnlate properlv, though rvith different means, Picasso's swr-rng in the otherdirection.After the ttvo "nervoLts" Spanish sril
. irpotropaic stancein LesDemoiselles Althoughit isjust as litescan-re
cl'Avignon. the famouslargeinteriors of I 911, The Rc,lSttt,lio'[rrterttt.t
btrreas Music,Donce11partakesin the rrrofirsemode of Matisse's x,ith Eggplants16l, The Pink Sntlb, and The Ptrhter's Fatnttv
l:l:;i -la- a ' 311: 'glrt

1O 1n | [ , 4. 1, c < a da\ , ol^^c nrc r a <t n a r . h ,^d,^^

^f
'tl :,
clin,
l{ rii
ri hi:
rn,

,cnii
eati
harl

,drr.
citci
hart
tra$
ngri
rirrr.
'Ir5ti
rhb
iftec
i his'
Pn0'.
itrcil
(o
raft:.
O
xhd
rth
(o
ot c
rth
il.
thf
tluli
fiftt'
and
. ltr
)\'€1:
ga*'
elir
ral0l f "ltnd ilrt.lc, Interiorwith
Eggprants,1911
u*:*{r esrwss.Z1Zx 246 (BZ.L g6.i,)
1l0': x

suii two immediately purchased by Shchukin).l.essfrenetic and differentscalesofthe ornamentalfabrics;the gestures

ofthe trvo
1,t'"ry,
ttran the picturesdoneat Seville,and considerably
)l!l
larger,they sculptures(one on the table,the other on the mantelpiece) that
rni. cxplore thesame isotropic
universe
in expansion.
In TheRed Studio, rhymewith the arabesques of the foldedscreen. The threeeggplants
rf al
r obnochrome bathof redness
floodsthefield,annullingeventhe that givethe painting its title are right in the n-riddieof the canvas,
lc ic of contour(whichexistsonly negatively,
asunpainted, but Matissehasblindedus to them and it is only through a con-
Tfttt
sciouseffortthat we manage,only fleetingly,to locatethen.r.
i'':,i decorative
pauernsrhat surroundthe figure makesus
:n:1
lnlfflou$
rni to themostviolent F U F T H EF F F AD N G
color contrasts,suchasthe oppositicln
'l:,
the unmitigatedblack Al fr edH .Bar r ,J r . l ,4al 6s eH i :.AdandH r s Pul r r c l N ew Yor kM us eum c i \4o d e rfA t 1 9 5 ' l
*y dressof the standingfigure and the Yve-Alain Bois 'N,4at sse s Batherslvrtha Tud e." Bulletinol lhe SarntLour.sAd MLlseon. v) 22
Un* book sheholds;
It'rl:
ffn-t in Interior witlt Eggplants,
the most ro iJ.Sumrne'1998

r$. but mostradicalwork Yve-AlainBois. 'On N/ai,sse:

The B fd fg Ortolre/ fo 68 Spr ng I 9!*
YTt* of the series,eveqthing cooper-
L"aing usastrav: John Elderfield, D-.scitrrngMat sse. Herri ly'all.sse lNer'/York:Muse!m ot
A Bet/ospeclive

Hy:dil;;Tlffl"jiiiT,T:,T
j:ff:j[ ffi:i]::i
cr'df Toin rh N 4oder r At 1q92)
t )tji Jack D. Flam./,4arsseThel'.trar
and Hts,4d /8e9 79/8 ithace N.Y and Londof: Corfe Llnversly
thatcotoristicaily Press 1986t

*xar"g;:I:i::1,:i;:il'.T:$:ff
!'ft'
matches
thelandscape
outside
I'r;il
ilJj:.:::or
.",I'i* Fnd ol (Ad]H sto'l acbber
AlastairWright. Archetectures["4atsseandthe rta 84 Spfr,g 1998

M ati s s e dev el ops hi s " aes theti c of b l i n d i n g " | 1 9 1 0