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Lot Essay
Henri Matisse’s Jazz marks a radical new departure in the artist's œuvre. Its maquettes are amongst the first essays in a medium entirely of his own devising, the papiers découpés, or 'cut-outs', which eventually led him to abandon painting in favor of this new and inventive way of working. There was also a practical appeal, since his limited mobility made it increasingly difficult to work in traditional media such as painting and sculpture. As an alternative, he began to cut shapes into sheets of colored paper and arranged them as collages. It was with these works that he finally saw the two defining elements of his art coalesce: line and color.
Matisse first employed a paper cut-out design in an early issue of the Parisian art journal VERVE, published by Tériade. When Tériade then put forward the idea of creating an entire suite using this method, Matisse initially refused. However, after some further experimentation with the technique he decided to accept the challenge and at the age of 74 he embarked on the creation of Jazz – a glorious celebration of life, a riot of pure colors and forms. What followed was a period of feverish creative activity. Matisse toiled over the project for a year, between 1943 and 1944, with his assistants helping by preparing the colored sheets, arranging the collages, and printing the works in the stencil or pochoir technique.
The title originally suggested was Cirque, which summed up the theatrical and performance themes which had inspired most the images. As Matisse wrote: 'These violent and vivid stamped images came from the crystallization of memories of the circus, of folk tales or of travels.' (D. Fourcade, ed., Henri Matisse - Écrits et propos sur l'art, Paris, 1972). However, it was the combination of Matisse’s looping script (which he created for the book version), improvised themes and compositional variations that prompted Tériade to suggest the alternative title Jazz, which he felt better reflected the bold forms and the dynamism of the pages, akin to the movement of a jazz orchestra.
It was decided to publish two versions – a book edition of 270, with Matisse’s text reproduced in his own, distinctive, looping handwriting, and a portfolio edition of 100. Although the book was not bound, each sheet was folded in the middle. The example we have here is from the portfolio edition without the central fold. The visual effect is quite different, and the pochoirs are almost indistinguishable from his gouaches.
When the project was published in 1947 it met with an immediate and unprecedented success: ‘Of all of Matisse’s books, Jazz is without a doubt his most important: it triggered a revolution in both the artist’s œuvre and in the history of contemporary art.’ (M. Anthonioz, Hommage Tériade, Paris, 1973, p. 125). Matisse insisted on printing Jazz using the same Linel gouache paints he had used to color his paper maquettes. It is these intensely glowing colors – a precursor of what was to come in the vibrant works of the great Pop Artists such as Warhol and Lichtenstein - beautifully preserved in the present example, and the poetic, yet nearly abstract imagery, which make Jazz one of the most influential print series of the 20th century.
Matisse first employed a paper cut-out design in an early issue of the Parisian art journal VERVE, published by Tériade. When Tériade then put forward the idea of creating an entire suite using this method, Matisse initially refused. However, after some further experimentation with the technique he decided to accept the challenge and at the age of 74 he embarked on the creation of Jazz – a glorious celebration of life, a riot of pure colors and forms. What followed was a period of feverish creative activity. Matisse toiled over the project for a year, between 1943 and 1944, with his assistants helping by preparing the colored sheets, arranging the collages, and printing the works in the stencil or pochoir technique.
The title originally suggested was Cirque, which summed up the theatrical and performance themes which had inspired most the images. As Matisse wrote: 'These violent and vivid stamped images came from the crystallization of memories of the circus, of folk tales or of travels.' (D. Fourcade, ed., Henri Matisse - Écrits et propos sur l'art, Paris, 1972). However, it was the combination of Matisse’s looping script (which he created for the book version), improvised themes and compositional variations that prompted Tériade to suggest the alternative title Jazz, which he felt better reflected the bold forms and the dynamism of the pages, akin to the movement of a jazz orchestra.
It was decided to publish two versions – a book edition of 270, with Matisse’s text reproduced in his own, distinctive, looping handwriting, and a portfolio edition of 100. Although the book was not bound, each sheet was folded in the middle. The example we have here is from the portfolio edition without the central fold. The visual effect is quite different, and the pochoirs are almost indistinguishable from his gouaches.
When the project was published in 1947 it met with an immediate and unprecedented success: ‘Of all of Matisse’s books, Jazz is without a doubt his most important: it triggered a revolution in both the artist’s œuvre and in the history of contemporary art.’ (M. Anthonioz, Hommage Tériade, Paris, 1973, p. 125). Matisse insisted on printing Jazz using the same Linel gouache paints he had used to color his paper maquettes. It is these intensely glowing colors – a precursor of what was to come in the vibrant works of the great Pop Artists such as Warhol and Lichtenstein - beautifully preserved in the present example, and the poetic, yet nearly abstract imagery, which make Jazz one of the most influential print series of the 20th century.