Henri Matisse: Matisse and Engraving: The Other Instrument. Questo articolo non è disponibile.Henri Matisse: Matisse and Engraving: The Other Instrument

Matisse and Engraving explores all of the engraving techniques used by Henri Matisse (1869–1954) from 1900 until the end of his life. Though Matisse is known primarily for his mastery of color, engraving was essential to his overall practice. The artist placed equal importance on engraving, drawing, painting and sculpture, with the representation of the human figure essential across all these mediums. This catalogue finally makes accessible this important aspect of her father’s work. For the very first time, the matrices—woodcut, lithograph, drypoint, etching, linocut and more—accompany the works, allowing readers to glimpse the process behind the resulting prints.

Matisse and engraving: the other instrument, who other than Henri Matisse's daughter Marguerite could describe his engraving in this way? Responsible for validating her father's press-proofs, she is, along with her son Claude Duthuit, the author of the catalogue raisonné of his engravings. She has devoted a large part of her life to allowing this "unknown continent" to be discovered and which is nevertheless essential in understanding the progression of an artist known above all for his mastery of colour. The Matisse Departmental Museum, with the help of the Matisse family, and notably Barbara Duthuit, and some most prestigious institutions, explores in this catalogue all of the engraving techniques used by Matisse from 1900 and up to the end of his life. For him, engraving, drawing, painting, sculpture all had the same importance, and in this work all the key themes, which led him to build his research around the human figure, are represented. For the very first time the matrices (woodcut, lithograph, drypoint, etching, linocut...) accompany the works and help us to understand that high standards and hard work, along with an economy of means, led Matisse to transform black into a colour that he used to serve the purity of line.