Busacca Gallery

Artist: Henri Matisse, Title: "Lagoon 1944" Medium: Pochoir (A Pochoir Print of a Paper Cut-Out from the Cheerful Book called Jazz, Published in 1947) unsigned Signed. Original Pochoir printing, published in 1947. The Lagoon, plate XVIII from the illustrated book “Jazz, 1947”. Jazz was produced as an edition of 250 books, with the pages folded in half. Print of a Paper Cut-Out from the Cheerful Book called Jazz. Size *Approx: 23 1/2" x 15 1/3” Measured from edge to edge of the paper. Color Pochoir print after the work by Henri Matisse, from the edition. One drawing for each different color, one color per press run. Henri Matisse’s Jazz (1947) is often considered the pinnacle of livres d’artiste, or artist’s books. Livres d’artiste are typically collaborations between artists and authors resulting in limited edition, fine-crafted, beautifully printed books with original graphic work. Jazz was produced as an edition of 250 books, with the pages folded in half. To create these works, Matisse cut forms out of large sheets of paper previously painted with gouache by his assistants. The cut-outs were then assembled on the wall of Matisse’s studio, under his direction. Tériade, the book's publisher, who suggested that title, explained that the paper cuts embodied the same improvisational spirit as jazz and that music was an indispensable part of Matisse’s life. Thus, his paper cut collages resemble jazz. The themes set forth in Jazz can be separated into four categories: the world of the French music hall and circus, mythology and legends, symbolism for the War between France and Germany, and memories from his life and travels. In Jazz, Matisse's subjects are more like verbs than nouns, however. They express the feeling of leaping, flying, swimming, falling. They cut straight to the viewer's experience rather than merely depicting someone else’s. For an artist like Matisse, the ability to suggest the natural world in all its diversity through the simple act of cutting shapes from colored paper became the ultimate act of creation by his knowing where to start and when to stop.

Jazz by Henri Matisse is a set of 20 colour stencils and more than 70 pages of calligraphic writing. Jazz was pivotal in Matisse’s transition from oil painting to the cut-out collages that dominated the last decade of his life. To create these works, Matisse cut forms out of large sheets of paper previously painted with gouache by his assistants. The cut-outs were then assembled on the wall of Matisse’s studio, under his direction. Jazz was published by Tériade in an edition of 250. The book’s title evokes the idea of a musical structure of rhythm and repetition, expressed through the handwritten text, which is broken by the explosive improvisations of the colour plates. Matisse’s subjects are taken largely from the circus, mythology and memories of his travels. They represent either isolated figures or paired forms that suggest a dialogue between artist and model. Despite the vivid colours and folkloric themes, few of the plates are actually cheerful. Several are among Matisse’s most ominous images. The writing of Jazz was very important for Matisse and though the pictures were mostly finished by 1944, he continued to work on the text until shortly before the book was published in September 1947. While the text gives the impression of great spontaneity, it was written out four or five times until Matisse was satisfied with the manner of expression and size of handwriting. Matisse stated that his manuscript pages represent merely a visual accompaniment to the plates and ‘their role [was] thus purely spectacular’. Despite Matisse’s claim, the text and plates are actually subtly and consciously related. The underlying themes of art and artifice find many parallels in the text. Jazz represents one of Matisse’s most interesting statements about his artistic development and the act of creation, which he believed results from the synthesis of instinct and intellect guided by discipline. If Jazz, and the cutouts in general, approach the liberated abstraction of music, still Matisse never strays far from the sense of an objective world. Painter and art historian Sir Lawrence Gowing described the cutouts as ‘cutting into a primordial substance, the basic chromatic substance of painting… . With each stroke, the cutting revealed the character both of the material, the pristine substance of color, and also of an image, a subject.’ In Jazz, Matisse’s subjects are more like verbs than nouns, however. They express the feeling of leaping, flying, swimming, falling. They cut straight to the viewer’s experience rather than merely depicting someone else’s. I The Clown II The Circus III Monsieur Loyal IV The Nightmare of the White Elephant V The Horse, the Rider and Clown VI The Wolf VII The Heart VIII Icarus IX Forms X Pierrot’s Funeral XI The Codomas XII The Swimmer in the Tank XIII The Sword Swallower XIV The Cowboy XV The Knife Thrower XVI Destiny XVII Lagoon I XVIII Lagoon II XIX Lagoon III XX Toboggan

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(Henri_Matisse)

Henri Matisse’s Jazz is a limited–edition art book containing prints of colorful cut–paper collages, accompanied by the artist's written thoughts. It was first issued on September 30, 1947, by art publisher Tériade. The portfolio, characterized by vibrant colors, poetic texts, and circus and theater themes, marks Matisse's transition to a new form of medium. Diagnosed with abdominal cancer in 1941, Matisse underwent surgery that left him chair– and bedbound. Limited in mobility, he could no longer paint or sculpt. Instead, he cut forms from colored paper that he arranged as collages, and decoupage which became known as the “cut–outs”. That same year, at the age of 74, Matisse began Jazz. His assistants helped prepare the collages for printing, using a stencil process known as pochoir in French. He worked on the series for two years, utilizing this new method that linked drawing and color—two important elements in Matisse's work. The designs were initially intended as covers for Verve, a French art magazine published by Tériade. In 1947, Tériade issued the compositions in an artist's portfolio. The book included 20 color prints, each about 16 by 26 inches (41 by 66 cm), as well as Matisse's handwritten notes expressing his thoughts throughout the process. Tériade gave it the title Jazz, which Matisse liked because it suggested a connection between art and musical improvisation. Despite the low number of books printed, Jazz was well received. The circus, the title originally suggested for the book, provided inspiration for the majority of the motifs concerning performing artists and balancing acts. “These images, with their lively and violent tones, derive from crystallizations of memories of circuses, folktales, and voyages,” Matisse explains in the accompanying text. The figure of the circus artist, usually depicted alone, is often seen as a metaphor for the artist himself. The first prints illustrating the circus do not seem to have an immediate connection to the succeeding works. However, these compositions are viewed as metaphors of life. The overall themes in Jazz derive from biographical elements, such as Matisse's recollection of his travels to Tahiti in the three "Lagoon" sheets (XVII–XIX), as well as broader aspects including love (V, VI), death (X), and fate (XVI).