The drawings that Matisse produced in the mid-1930s were those he valued as amongst his very greatest achievements. And finely reproduced as they are here, they astonish, delight and seduce everyone who sees them by their verve, their audacity and their voluptuousness. Made in pen and ink, admitting of no correction, devoid of shading or hatching they are, as Matisse said of them, 'the most direct expression of my emotion'. These portraits and drawings of models reclining in and against profusely patterned textiles and ornamented backgrounds, are miracles of pure line, of fluid arabesques seemingly spontaneous and free, yet rationally controlled to embody the height of exoticism and sensuality. The naked and clothed models, mirrors, reflections of sprawling limbs and of the artist himself or his own hand drawing, spread in waves across the whiteness of the paper to beguile us and take our breath away at Matisse's sheer virtuosity in making a simple line evoke the complexities of space and form. There was no delay in recognizing these miracles of draughtsmanship as a sort of pinnacle of perfection and in 1936 Christian Zervos reproduced a selection of them in his journal Cahiers d'Art. This present volume is a near facsimile of that special edition.

"Recounts the publication history of nearly fifty books illustrated by Henri Matisse, including Lettres portugaises, Mallarmae's Poaesies, and Matisse's own Jazz. Explores his illustration methods, typographic precepts, literary sensibilities, and opinions about the role of the artist in the publication process"--Provided by publisher.

MATISSE: DRAWING LIFE, and the exhibition it accompanies, explores Matisse's works, on and with paper, made throughout his long career. Featuring more than 300 drawings, prints, illustrated books and selected paintings and paper cut-outs by one of the twentieth century's greatest artists, it traces an arc from the artist's studies in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century, through the intimacies of daily life in his studio sketched in pencil and pen, to the masterpieces made using line, light and colour in the decade before his death in 1954. This publication showcases the most comprehensive gathering of Matisse's graphic work from major international museums and private collections ever presented in an exhibition with new writing by Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, Celine Chicha-Castex and Emilie Ovaere-Corthay.

Traces the evolution of Matisse's work on paper, from experimental beginnings to the artist's instantly recognizable mature style An internationally recognized expert in the European tradition of draughtsmanship, Christopher Lloyd offers rare insights about the technical qualities of Matisse's drawings. This book traces the evolution of Matisse's large and varied body of drawings and works on paper--including graphic work, the celebrated cut-outs and the famous decoration of the Chapel of the Rosary at Vence, France. The artist's drawings are contextualized within his own biography and times, from vibrant early twentieth-century Paris to later periods in luxurious Nice. Lively prose and a wealth of reproductions illustrate Matisse's versatility in different media and his innovative, expansive concept of drawing. Despite the variety of his output, the work always reflects the artist's constant desire to express pure emotion in visual terms. Since 2014, Christopher Lloyd has published four highly successful books on the drawings of modern artists. This book follows his most recent publication, Picasso and the Art of Drawing. With over 150 illustrations, including archival photographs of Matisse's studio and the artist at work, this volume concisely covers Matisse's entire graphic oeuvre.

An insightful reflection on Henri Matisse's drawings from the perspective of modernist Ellsworth Kelly