Henri Matisse
A beautiful and striking Henri Matisse La Pompadour print, 1951
Matisse La Pompadour print for Galerie Maeght, Paris 1951. Lithographic print for the exhibition Henri MATISSE at the Galerie Maeght. It is a portrait of a Young Woman (Madame de Pompadour).
Drawing was always central to the artist’s oeuvre, and whether working in oil paint, ink or collage, his exploration and representation of form needed very few marks to convey a powerful image. His line drawings, give the impression of beautiful, effortless simplicity. In reality, he laboured exactingly to achieve the “art of balance, of purity and serenity” of which he dreamed.
Matisse was of course one of the undisputed masters of 20th century art. Know for his fluid use of colour, he was a painter, print-maker and sculptor. Influenced by the works of the post-Impressionists Paul Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Paul Signac, and also by Japanese art, Matisse made colour a crucial element of his paintings.
Dimensions: 52 x 77 cm
Edition: Unsigned and unnumbered
Condition: Excellent
Print Only – The print will be sent to you in a tube
Framed Print – We will have your print professionally framed in natural woods and waxes. Please contact us after purchase to choose frame colour and style. Please also note, the frames are handmade and there will be a two week wait on your order being dispatched.
THE ARTIST
HENRI MATISSE
b.1869, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
Henri Matisse's artistic journey is one of the most captivating and prolific of the Modern era. His career was defined by artistic experimentation, fierce competition, and an unending pursuit of perfection. His prints are highly collectible works of Modern Art that have stood the test of time, and he is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. His lithography prints are some of the most beautiful examples of his unique artistry and are highly valued by collectors.
He was a Post-Impressionist who rose to prominence as the leader of the French art movement Fauvism. Colourful, expressive brushstrokes and flat, geometric lines defined the aesthetic of Fauvism and the ideals of modernism itself through the artwork of Matisse. Painting, sketching, printmaking, collage, and sculpture were some of the mediums used by the French artist, who often depicted simplified human forms and floral motifs.
Matisse's sculpture and painting were both heavily influenced by the human form. Because he felt that the theme had been ignored in Impressionism, it was significant to him in his Fauvist work. On the one hand, the figure was shattered into sharp fragments, while on the other, it was treated almost as a curvilinear ornament. Some of his work reflects his models' moods and personalities, but more often than not, he used them as vehicles for his own feelings, reducing them to cyphers in his monumental designs.
His artwork has been purchased for tens of millions on the secondary market and is included in numerous museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, and the Guggenheim. Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and many others were influenced by Matisse's flattened planes and vivid colours. Both he and Picasso were inspired to create and influence 20th-century painting by their infamous rivalry.