Matisse: Radical Invention at Art Institute of Chicago
Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917
March 20 – Jun 20, 2010
Preview by Joyce Owens
(click images to enlarge)
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954). Portrait of Yvonne Landsberg, 1914. Oil on canvas, 147.3 x 97.5 cm (58 x 38 3/8 in.) Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950, 1950-134-130. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
The Institute’s top-notch staff joins with New York’s Museum of Modern Art to gather about 120 images, including monumental and small paintings, portrait sculptures, tiny monotypes, etchings, intimate drawings in ink and graphite, some on scraps of paper that Matisse (1869-1954) possibly never expected to be featured in a major show, are right here! The time period, 1913-1917, coincides with war in Europe, so one has to consider the history of the world and how it plays in the art Matisse produced in Paris after a trip to Morocco and before going to Nice. The two museums were engaged in scientific research on Matisse’s works notably Bathers by a River and his Back bas-reliefs, gaining additional knowledge about his practice.
Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). Apples, 1916. Oil on canvas, 116.9 x 88.9 cm (46 x 35 in.) The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx, 1948.563. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
I enjoyed the access to the work allowing close study of the displays. Possibly because many are under glass there are fewer barrier ropes and tapings. To appreciate Matisse’s processes, that are in plain view as ghosts and shadows where he erased, changing his mind, it’s good to get up close. He gave us the gift of his reworking, perhaps mistakes at first, which became lyrical and lovely permanent passages in his work. The museum provides an electronic presentation about Matisse’s radical innovations during this period.
Let me go back to some of the important details and credits. The museum’s director, James Cuno, invited the media to a press luncheon to launch the show. In the galleries we intermingled with museum members, possibly because the media has shrunk so much that we would neither fill the place, nor interfere much with the paying guests.
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954). Goldfish and Palette, 1914-15. Oil on canvas, 146.5 x 112.4 cm (57 3/4 x 44 1/4 in.) The Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift and bequest of Florene M. Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx, 1964. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Cuno introduced the curators Stephanie D’Allessandro (Art Institute) and John Elderfield (MoMA), and lenders and funders to the exhibition explaining how a painting already in the Art Institute collection inspired the show. Cuno introduced other significant contributors to the show, even the legal staff! This endeavor must have been tricky in more ways the one. Cuno remarked, “things were ferociously acquired through an intense process”. The fight was well worth its results! If you like art, this exhibition may push you into the love art column as you bathe in the color palette of the master artist and then witness his decision to remove color, neutralizing canvasses with grays, nodding to the contemporary art thing, Cubism. Inspired by Paul Cezanne, who by the way, is represented in this major endeavor, Matisse painted Cezanne’s work.
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954). The Piano Lesson, 1916. Oil on canvas, 245.1 x 212.7 cm (96 1/2 x 83 3/4 in.) The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund, 1946. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
You will also notice the facile line of Matisse’s graphite drawings, remnants of pencil in his painting and use of sgrafitto in his large paintings. The monotypes are made by scratching delicate lines on a prepared plate, then printing on paper. Not an “accurate” drawer, the series of nude drawings in the show demonstrate that a confident line can take an artist a long way.
Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917
Exhibition Dates: March 20 – Jun 20, 2010
