Henri Matisse | Biography

Henri Matisse ranks among the most acclaimed and imitated of modern artists, but his innovations shocked many of his contemporaries and only gained widespread acceptance after generating substantial controversy. By the late twentieth century, however, the influence of his bold style can be observed not only in the so-called fine arts but in virtually every facet of popular culture.

Born in Le Cateau-Cambresis, France, on December 31, 1869, Matisse was raised in northern France. His parents, Emile and Gerard Matisse, ran a kind of grocery store. Unlike many artists, he did not spend time drawing or painting as a child. He was expected to take over the family business or, with luck, become a lawyer. Matisse did study law in Paris for two years; but he unwittingly doomed his legal career when, in 1890 while working as a law clerk, he began attending early morning drawing classes meant for curtain designers. While recovering from appendicitis that year, Matisse received a box of paints from his mother and soon thereafter decided to pursue a career in art. He was twenty years old.

Matisse studied for several years in Paris with traditional painters. To earn money he made copies of famous works at the French national museum, the Louvre. At the time Paris was the center of a revolution in the visual arts. Besides impressionism, other new ideas were being introduced by painters like Frenchmen Paul Cézanne and Georges Seurat and Vincent van Gogh of the Netherlands. At the Louvre Matisse was attracted to the passion of Spanish artist Francisco Goya. He also admired the work of his countryman Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and, like numerous artists of the time, was fascinated by the woodblock prints of Japan. Matisse experimented with ideas from all these sources; by 1897 he was on his way to finding his own style.

Paints A Blue Figure

The first results of his experimentation were revealed in 1898 when he painted a male nude--not in the usual flesh tones, but all in blue. This unorthodox choice reflected his conviction that color should be used to express emotion. By 1905 Matisse had become the leader of a group of artists called "Les Fauves," the wild beasts, after their exhibit shocked the public. Fauvism, as their style became known, is characterized by broad strokes of very bright, often clashing color. The heightened hues and dark borders defining shapes invested their work with tremendous energy. A noteworthy example from this time is Matisse's Woman with the Hat, a portrait of the artist's wife, Amelie Parayre--whom he'd married in 1898--in a very large chapeau. Although compositionally a traditional rendering of an elegant lady, the painting's use of color--the dress, hat, and even the face are painted in patches of green, red, orange, and blue--was scandalous for the time. Matisse gained some fame when American writer Gertrude Stein and her brother Michael Stein bought the painting. Over the years, the two bought many of his works.

Except for the Steins, however, Matisse attracted few buyers of his paintings and found it difficult to support his family. He and Amelie had two sons and a daughter. Amelie Matisse set up a hat shop in Paris to earn income for the family. She continued to serve frequently as a model for her husband.

Begins Romance With Color

In 1906 Matisse traveled to Italy and North Africa, both of which strongly influenced his style. In Italy he admired the frescoes of the pre-Renaissance Italian artist Giotto, with their simple, monumental style. In North Africa he was drawn to the brilliant colors and decorative patterns of Islamic art. He brought back from this trip pottery, cloths, carpets, and other items, which he often used in his paintings. His Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) reflects these influences and his love of the human figure. Yet anatomy would ultimately take a back seat to design; in the next few years, rich colors and decorative patterns, including those of vines and flowers, seemed to overrun his paintings; in Harmony in Red, the pattern of the wallpaper and tablecloth leave little space in the painting for the woman standing at the table.

Matisse is also notable for repeating parts of previous paintings in newer works. For instance, in a still life from 1909, the viewer can see a section of his earlier painting La Danse. La Danse, along with a companion painting, La Musique, was commissioned by a Russian businessman named Sergei Shchukin, a great supporter of Matisse in these years. Matisse visited him in Moscow several times, and Shchukin eventually owned thirty-seven of his paintings. In 1923 Shchukin and another Russian collector opened the first museum of contemporary Western art in Moscow, including forty-eight of Matisse's works. Matisse also used the freedom of fauvism in his early sculptures. He worked with sculpture throughout his career, adapting for the medium his many concepts of form and space.

Incorporates Other Styles Into His Own

Around 1910 Matisse's style underwent another transformation. He delved into approaches derived from cubism and began using subtler colors, more simplified figures, and a greater number of geometric shapes. Matisse was never a cubist, but as with impressionism, he was able to incorporate many of the school's ideas and theories into his own style. This is evident in his 1911 painting The Painter's Family, in which the space is divided into multiple rectangular areas covered with decorative patterns of wallpaper, oriental rug designs, and upholstery prints.

After World War I Matisse began spending a substantial portion of each year in the south of France and eventually settled there permanently. Under the influence of the south's warm, sunny weather, his colors brightened again, and patterns and decorations became more prominent. He wrote that after many years of exploration, his art finally "had established a new clarity and simplicity of its own." Toward the end of the 1920s, Matisse took a trip around the world, spending six months in Tahiti, where Frenchman Paul Gauguin had done so much of his painting, and also traveling to the United States.

Soon after this visit, he received a commission from the Barnes Foundation in Pennsylvania to paint a mural in their museum, which contained many impressionist and post-impressionist works. This was the first of several interior design commissions Matisse accepted in the ensuing years. The largest project, often considered the masterpiece of his career, was the design of a chapel in the French town of Vence. Matisse created the stained-glass windows, interior decor, devotional objects, and clothing for the clergy. The chapel was dedicated in 1951.

Experiments with Paper

During the 1930s Matisse turned to designing and illustrating books. He began working with geometric and abstract shapes cut out of colored paper, silhouetting these against multihued backgrounds. Matisse's most famous book, Jazz, dates from 1947. The vivid colors, flowing shapes, and rhythmic feel evoke the qualities of that musical form. Matisse's works were exhibited often during the 1930s in major cities across Europe and the United States. At a large exhibition in Paris in 1936, an entire room was devoted to his paintings.

In the 1940s and 1950s Matisse became increasingly handicapped due to illness. During the World War II years, he was often confined to his bed. His works from this period are smaller and include numerous book illustrations. These creations have a pronounced serenity about them, all the more remarkable since both Matisse's wife and daughter were arrested by the Nazis during this time. Amelie Matisse suffered two three-month prison sentences, and Marguerite Matisse was placed in solitary confinement, charged with resistance activities.

A Maverick To The End

War's end saw an increase in Matisse's activity. He often worked from a wheelchair or in bed, sketching designs on the wall with a piece of charcoal attached to a long pole. His last paintings recalled his favorite themes of female figures and interiors and include Large Red Interior from 1948. He spent many hours directing his assistants to find the perfect arrangements of his paper cutouts. Matisse passed the last years of his life designing the chapel at Vence and working on his cutouts. These free-form shapes brought together all of Matisse's ideas, from painting, sculpture, and the decorative arts. Despite his infirmities, he continued working until his death in Nice, France, on November 3, 1954, at the age of eighty-four, a maverick to the end.