Jazz: Colophon

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Jazz: Colophon

Artist Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)

Author Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)

Publisher Tériade, Paris

Printer pochoirs: Edmond Vairel, [s.l.] text: [Draeger Frères, Paris]

Date1947

DimensionsPortfolio: H: 26 1/4 in. (667 mm); W: 17 1/2 in. (444 mm); Depth: 3/4 in. (19 mm).
Leaf (untrimmed): H: 25 1/2 in. (648 mm); W: 16 5/8 in. (422 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: 20 pochoir prints with Linel gouache colors after cut paper collage and decoupage originals. Reproduction: line block reproduction of brush sketches of the pochoir prints and handwritten titles (key to the plates). Text: letterpress (typeface: Deberny & Peignot Garamont capitals). Paper: Arches cream wove.

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1985.85A

Not on View

Label TextWhen Henri Matisse took up a proposal to make an album in color, he was seriously ill following cancer surgery and deeply disturbed by European events. Nevertheless, in 1943-44, working in vividly-hued cut paper, he created twenty collages from which the stenciled prints were made. Initially entitled The Circus, these images, as Matisse wrote, "have resulted from the crystallizations of memories of the circus, popular tales, or of travel." Here, he depicted the Codomas brothers, celebrated trapezists of decades before, executing their dangerous maneuvers above the net. In his text for Jazz, Matisse described his technique as "Drawing with scissors: Cutting directly into color." Late in life, he found new ways to resolve what he called "the eternal conflict of drawing and color." The subject here is a female swimmer watched by a red-faced man, a spectacle he recalled from a Parisian music hall. Like The Codomas nearby, Matisse's image parallels his accompanying text musing on airplane travel, on "the perception of limitless space in which for a moment we felt so free." “Drawing with scissors—cutting directly into vivid color reminds me of the direct carving of the sculptor on stone. My book has emerged from this spirit.” (Henri Matisse, Jazz) Henri Matisse first cut shapes in color paper in 1931–33 to create the design layout of his mural The Dance. It was a method he would continue to explore for the rest of his career. In 1943, at the publisher Tériade’s suggestion, Matisse began working on cutouts for a book. Unable to get the color he was looking for in commercial paper, he painted white paper with gouache (opaque watercolor). He then cut out the shapes and pinned them up on the wall of his studio, rearranging them until he was satisfied with the composition. Lithography did not reproduce the vivid colors of the painted paper satisfactorily, so Matisse decided on the pochoir technique, in which thick ink was applied with brushes through stencils. The book contains a facsimile handwritten text by Matisse that explores the artist’s thoughts on art and life. Jazz, however, was also issued as a portfolio of prints without text. Because the printing of this portfolio better captured Matisse’s color designs, it is the portfolio that Walter Bareiss collected.Published Referencescf. Castleman, Riva, A Century of Artists Books, New York, 1994, pp. 96--97, col. reprs.

cf. Duthuit, Claude, Henri Matisse: Catalogue raisonné des ouvrages illustrés, Paris, 1988, no. 22 bis, col. reprs.

cf. Garvey, Eleanor M., The Artist & the Book, 1860--1960, Boston, 1961, no. 200, col. repr.

cf. Hogben, Carol, Rowan Watson, editors, From Manet to Hockney: Modern Artists’ Illustrated Books, London, 1985, no. 114, reprs. (some col.)

cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: the Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 120

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 55, repr. (col.).

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, plates: X, V, II, XI, XII, XIV exhibited Nov. 7, 1999 - Jan. 18, 2000

Toledo Museum of Art, Don't Feed the Books: Birds, Bugs, and Bestiaries Featuring the Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, 2001, repr. (col.) p. 4

Toledo Museum of Art, Splendid Pages: The Books, Feb. 14 - May 11, 2003

Toledo Museum of Art, Between the Wars, Sept. 5 - Dec.31 2008

Toledo Museum of Art, Inner Space, June 20 - Oct.10, 2008.

Toledo Museum of Art, Werner Pfeiffer Selects, Feb. 13-May 10, 2015.