Henri Matisse

This exhibition features an important cache of drawings made by Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) generously on loan from the Mourlot Collection. On view will be works Matisse produced together with master lithographer Fernand Mourlot (French, 1895-1988) in creating 13 of the artist books of poetry that defined the final two decades of his career. Key to the project is its consideration of the relationships between the artist and Mourlot, Matisse’s conception of a seamless link that conjoined verse and line drawing, and the intense contexts of Matisse’s own struggles through multiple cataclysms of the 1930s to the time of his death in 1954.

This exhibition aims to immerse the visitor in a selection of 71 drawings from the 200+ surviving sheets in the Mourlot archive, among them several never-before-exhibited pieces. Beyond Color considers how literary themes — love, beauty, mortality, sensuality — resonate across time and delves into the particularity of Matisse’s perilous situation at the outbreak of World War II: the separation of his wife, the confiscation of his property, his health crisis and subsequent convalescence. Revealed are both a profound dialogue between word and image and one of the most spectacular “second act” career accomplishments by a towering figure of European Modernism. The exhibition’s opening coincides with the Museum’s Gala on the evening of Saturday, April 11, and to the public the following day, continuing through August 9.

Image Captions: Henri Matisse, Head of a girl , 1946. Drawing on lithographic transfer paper. 12 x 9 in. (30 1/2 x 22.9 cm.) © Les Héritiers Matisse. Photo courtesy of Mourlot. Le main de Matisse. © Les Héritiers Matisse. Photo courtesy of Mourlot. Henri Matisse, Sleeping woman, 1948. Drawing on lithographic transfer paper. 7 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. (18.4 x 26.7 cm.) © Les Héritiers Matisse. Photo courtesy of Mourlot. Henri Matisse, Head of a nun in profile , 1946. Proof lithograph. 13 x 10 in. (33 x 25.4 cm.). © Les Héritiers Matisse. Photo courtesy of Mourlot. Henri Matisse, Head of a girl in profile, 1948. Drawing on lithographic transfer paper. 14 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (36.8 x 26.7 cm.). © Les Héritiers Matisse. Photo courtesy of Mourlot. Henri Matisse, Head of a girl, (1948). Drawing on lithographic transfer paper. 4 x 5 in. (10.2 x 12.7 cm.). © Les Héritiers Matisse. Photo courtesy of Mourlot. Henri Matisse, Flower, 1948. Drawing on lithographic transfer paper. 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (8.9 x 11.4 cm.). © Les Héritiers Matisse. Photo courtesy of Mourlot.