Matisse: A Portrait - Hardcover

Herrera, Hayden

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151581835 ISBN 13: 9780151581832

Publisher: Pub Overstock Unlimited Inc, 1993

Synopsis

A biography of the great French painter focuses on his love of comfort and color, his complex relationship with his wife, and his stubborn devotion to his work. By the author of Frida Kahlo: The Paintings. National ad/promo. Tour.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Sympathetic bio-critical study of the French painter once savaged for his radical style. The most intriguing thing about Matisse was his bourgeois life, which included law school, a family (with kids), and--after some years of searing poverty--mounds of money: Hardly the background one expects of a man who, for a time, was perceived as Picasso's equal in the creation of modern art and was portrayed as an artistic terrorist or pervert by critics on both sides of the Atlantic. But, as art historian Herrera (Frida, 1983, etc.) points out, Matisse did indeed shock with his early canvases, especially in 1905, when he invented Fauvism, with its garish tints and barbaric strokes. Matisse enjoyed the limelight until Picasso left him in the dust by developing cubism, whose geometric forms were so unlike Matisse's color-oriented canvases. For the next three or four decades, Matisse led a successful artist's life, devising a simplified, decorator's style ``radiant with Mediterranean sunlight.'' His paintings were also steeped with eroticism; Matisse liked to put one hand on his nude model's knee as he painted with the other. In his last years, a burst of creativity with colored- paper cut-outs led to new accolades and did nothing to hurt his reputation as a feel-good artist (a description Matisse wouldn't have minded, since he believed that his paintings could cure disease). As Herrera explains, Matisse's family and friends continue to keep his private life under wraps. This leads to a study thick with surface details (many of the paintings are closely described) but too shallow to encompass the inner currents. (Twenty-eight color, 80 b&w illustrations--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

Matisse was confined by neither the academy nor the dogma of Neo-Impressionism but was instead rooted in his senses and in the sensuality of paint that is so much the focus of his art. Herrera ( Frida Kahlo: The Paintings , LJ 5/15/92; Mary Frank , Abrams, 1990) tells the story of the much-admired genius in this illustrated critical biography. The author demonstrates Matisse's progression from Fauvism to individual expression, illuminating some significant paintings along the way. She also explores the role of the artist's family in various creations: portraying the relationship with a doubtful but supporting father; examining Matisse's use of his wife and children as art models; and describing some pretty tortured times in France during both world wars. Herrera acknowledges more extensive books by Jack Flam, Lawrence Gowing, Nicholas Watkins, and John Russell, among others, in a bibliographic note; although she is breaking no new ground, comprehensive collections will want this book as a well-chosen window from which to observe the artist.
- Ellen Bates, New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pub Overstock Unlimited Inc
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0151581835
• ISBN 13: 9780151581832
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 223