Henri Matisse standing against a screen and drawing with chalk (1939).
Photo : Brassaï.
Henri Matisse, drawing with a bamboo pole tipped with charcoal.
Photo: Robert Capa
“
We used to make copies at the Louvre, somewhat to study the masters and live with them, somewhat because the government bought copies. But they had to be executed with minute exactitude, according to the letter and not the spirit of the work. Thus the works most successful with the purchasing commission were those done by the mothers, wives and daughters of the museum guards. Our copies were only accepted out of charity. I would have liked to be literal.. but I couldn’t.
What is believed to be boldness was only awkwardness. So liberty is really the impossibility of following the path which everyone usually takes and following the one which your talents make you take.
”– Henri Matisse, Interviewed by E. Tériade (1951)
Henri Matisse often painted the same piece over and over again, to push its artistic quality. See pairs, trios and series from throughout his long career, starting today at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: http://bit.ly/THg6ti
(via sfmoma)
(Source: chewasd)
Henri Matisse, self-portrait
Henri Matisse in his studio working with a sketch of “The Virgin and Child”for his chapel at Vence. France, 1950. Photo by Dmitri Kessel © Time Inc.
Matisse drawing a kid’s portrait.
Henri Matisse - The Joy of Life, 1905-06. Oil on canvas
The Rumanian Blouse 1940
Henri Matisse
The Dessert: Harmony in Red (1908)
