Matisse In The 1930S

Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 20 October 2022 - 29 January 2023

In 1930, as Henri Matisse (1869-1954) embarked on the production of La Danse, the fresco commissioned by American collector Albert C. Barnes, he began to experiment that would permanently change the nature of his work. The use of pre-painted cut paper to lay out his compositions led to a new style of flat tones and bold shapes. He also increasingly used serial imagery to make his creative process visible, aiming to capture the flow of his own perceptions and emotions into the artwork.

This volume highlights the transformations in Matisse's work in the 1930s across a range of media - wall and easel painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing and illustrated book. The book also examines Matisse's relationship with the Parisian journal Cahiers d'art, which played a major role in the dissemination of Matisse's work during this period, his exhibitions, his continued involvement in decorative painting, his studio as a creative laboratory, and the role of his model and muse Lydia Delectorskaya.