_ May Sarton, American poet_ (May 3, 1912-July 16, 1995)
Excerpt from: At Seventy / a journal
_ Thayer's Portrait of May Sarton
5.5.10
matisse : radical inventions 1913-1917 . . .
Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913 - 1917
In the time between his 1913 return from Morocco and his 1917 departure for Nice, Henri Matisse produced some of the most demanding, experimental, and enigmatic works of his career—paintings that are abstracted and rigorously purged of descriptive detail, geometric and sharply composed, and dominated by the colors black and gray. Works from this period have typically been treated as unrelated to one another, as aberrations within the artist’s development, or as responses to Cubism or World War I. Matisse and the Methods of Modern Construction will examine the physical production of the paintings and the essential context of Matisse’s studio practice. Matisse himself acknowledged near the end of his life the significance of this period when he identified two works—the Art Institute of Chicago’s Bathers by a River (1909–10, 1913, 1916–17) and the Museum of Modern Art’s The Moroccans (1915–16)—as among his most “pivotal.” The importance of this moment resides not only in the formal qualities of the paintings—what Matisse called “the methods of modern construction” —but also in the physical nature of the pictures. Rather than produce alternate versions of compositions in graphite, ink, clay, or paint, Matisse limited his exploration to a single canvas, which in its heavily reworked and abstracted final state suggests that the act of painting itself became an added subject for him. The concept of Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917 evolved from the study of Bathers by a River that employs new analytical and scientific technologies to uncover the evolutionary history of this painting’s creation. This groundbreaking research has revealed much about Matisse’s methods, as well as a number of unexpected connections with other works, most significantly,The Moroccans and The Piano Lesson (1916) at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. MoMA is likewise engaged in an investigation of works in its collection. The partnership of the Art Institute and MoMA has resulted in new information about Matisse’s pigments, experimental techniques, and compositional choices. These findings hold the promise of a fundamental reassessment of Matisse’s experimental working through new, “modern” pictorial means and its impact on the rest of his career. 368 pages with 650 illustrations. matisse : radical inventions 1913-1917 . the art institute chicago. March 20–June 20, 2010
matisse at the art institute in chicago
Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917 examines what is without question the most innovative, momentous, and yet little-studied time in the artist’s long career. Nearly 120 of his most ambitious and experimental paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints from the period are on view. Matisse himself acknowledged the significance of these years when he identified two paintings, Bathers by a River and The Moroccans, as among his most pivotal. These monumental canvases from the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, inspired the collaborative work of this exhibition and serve as major touchstones within it. This is the first exhibition to offer an in-depth investigation of Matisse’s art from this time, revealing information uncovered through extensive new art-historical, archival, and technical research.
bathing in happiness : matisse in chicago
the works Matisse produced between late 1913 and 1917 are among
his most demanding, experimental, and enigmatic. While these works
have typically been seen as unrelated responses to the influences of
Cubism and World War I, this exhibition illustrates the deep connections
between them and their critical role in an ambitious, cohesive project
of developing what Matisse called “the methods of modern construction”—
a process in which the act of creation itself was the main focus.
So What About This Record-Setting Picasso?
“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” and other paintings from its period
are old and easy, art as usual. They keep to the known, the pleasure
zone, they keep old orders firm: artist over subject, man over woman,
woman as thing: a pink blob with closed eyes. “Ironically, this painting
which celebrates feminine submissiveness was executed on
International Woman’s Day; this would have delighted Picasso.
” That’s Mr. Richardson’s final comment on the most expensive painting ever to hit the block.
-- holland cotter, nyt . (c) 2010
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