Henri Matisse’s blue nudes were made relatively late in the artist’s life – in 1952, two years before he died. I thought this would be an indicator that they incorporated many years of experimenting and experience with the technique of using cut-out paper to create compositions.
What makes them so powerful? I think it’s the simplicity of the shapes. Although, on a second look, the shapes are not that simple actually, with many curves and irregularities. But the reduction to a simple element in plain colour of dark blue with its strong contrast to the white background works very well.
Then there’s the expressiveness of the poses, which seem to capture movement or a distinc gesture or stance. The shapes are built from generous lines that convey a sense of energy and flow.
What can I learn from them? I wouldn’t want to copy the style, but I realize that Matisse solved the problem of more complex shapes by composing several pieces to a larger shape, with white lines in between that help the viewer to understand the form. When I was making my stencils in the previous project, I tried to obtain one single shape which would work by its silhouette, rather than composing the mask out of several pieces. When I was choosing the sketches to further work with, I excluded those which were only decipherable if I divided the mask in several parts.
So Matisses techniques shows a way to do stencils for more complex forms. For example, I had made a sketch of two elephants, one behind the other, and this should look well if divided into two separate masks with a separating line from the background between them. It wouldn’t have worked as a single shaped silhouette though.
Here’s another cut-out composition by Matisse for the “Jazz” artist book. It’s called “The Clown” and was made 1943. The shapes are a mix of wavy and edgy, which creates much impact together with the strong colour contrast. I see a scene from a circus – the red and white Pierrot clown figure before the curly curtain, and the blue seat rows surrounding the central arena.
I learnt that Matisse made his cut-outs from paper sheets that were painted with gouache by his assistant. Matisse chose one particular brand whose colours could be reproduced exactly in industrialized printing processes. The prints in the Jazz book were made by transferring the paper cut-outs to thin sheets of metal to create stencils. This is an interesting idea which would make the masks more durable and reusable.
More artists using cut-outs this way?
I wasn’t able to detect any similar work, despite having read that Matisse’s cut-outs were enormously influential. In particular, Picasso’s name was mentioned quite often, but I didn’t find any work done in the same technique.
But I do remember several of Picasso’s drawings which are comparable in style to Matisse’s work. These were very simple drawings that might have worked well as cut-outs, for example the peace bird and some of the female portraits. I had never seen the drawings in light of Matisse’s work and now realize there might have been quite an influence, maybe mutual, between the two artists.
Exposition!
What a great coincidence – in one week, at Tate Modern in London, opens a great exhibition of Matisse’s cut outs. I won’t be able to go there, but the exhibition will also come to New York in October 2014 and I’ll definitely try to visit it!
References
Artist website http://www.henri-matisse.net
Page on cut-outs http://www.henri-matisse.net/cut_outs.html
Wikipedia article with biographical data http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse
Wikipedia article on collage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collage
Video showing Matisse making a cutout and arranging a composition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN0okOq8Hyc
Matisse Cut out exhibition at MOMA, New York, from October 25, 2014–February 8, 2015
https://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1469
Matisse Cut outs at Tate London, 17 April – 7 September 2014
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/henri-matisse-cut-outs