Henri MatisseEssay Preview: Henri MatisseReport this essayHenri MatisseHenri Matisse was born December 31st, 1869 to two storeowners, Emile and Heloise Matisse. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, so later on in life he could takeover the family business. They sent him to Henri Martin Grammar School where he studied to be a lawyer. There was a hint of artist in Henri because while working as a lawyers assistant he took up a drawing course (Essers 7). It was for curtain design but it seemed to be destiny for a lawyers assistant to take up such a distant hobby as drawing.
At the age of 21, his intestinal operation led to appendicitis. Henri was on bed rest for most of 1890 and to help him occupy his time, his mother bought him a set of paints. That was the turning point in Henris life. He decided to give up his career in law for a career in art. Matisse himself said, “It was as if I had been called. Henceforth I did not lead my life. It led me” (Getlein 80). Soon after, Henri began to take classes at the Academie Julian to prepare himself for the entrance examination at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Essers 7). Henri failed his first attempt, leading to his departure from the Academie. He then enrolled at the Ecole des Arts decoratifs and that is where his friendship with Albert Marquet began. They started working alongside of Gustave Moreau, a distinguished teacher at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, even though they had not been accepted (Essers 12). In 1895, Henri finally passed the Beaux-Arts entrance examination and his pathway to his new career choice had officially begun.
Henri studied under Moreau at the Beaux-Arts. Moreau obviously impressed with his student, told him, “You were born to simplify painting” (Getlein 80). It was at the Beaux-Arts where he met another Moreau student named Derain. Matisse and Derain would grow to become friends and future trendsetters.
During a visit to Brittany, Matisse discovered Impressionism (Essers 8). The works of Cezanne and Van Gogh influenced him. When he returned, he exhibited his first painting, Dinner Table, in 1897. This was his first painting of impressionistic style. Matisses art began to concentrate on landscapes, still life, and domestic interiors. Still life is a theme Henri would follow for the rest of his career.
Henri tried to return to the Beaux-Arts after the release of Dinner Table. Moreau was no longer there and his successor, Cormon, told Henri to leave because he had passed the age limit of 30 (Essers 12). Matisse then began studying at a school started by a fellow artist and friend Camillo because he was not confident enough in his ability to be an independent artist.
In 1903, Matisse started accepting harshful commissions that took a toll on him. He became so sick that he though to give up painting. This is when he produced Studio under the Eaves. Matisse told his son, “That was the transition from valeurs to colors” (Essers 12). The next year he read Paul Signacs “From Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism”. Matisse began to move further away from the techniques and style of Impressionism.
The famous summer of 1905 was spent in Collioure with Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck. This summer marked the most important turning point in Matisses art career. During the summer, they experimented with the pointillism techniques of Seurat, but towards the end of the summer, the three artists had moved in a very different direction. The paintings produced in
Collioure rejected Impression and began a new movement. They exhibited their works in the Salon dAutomne, which they also founded in 1903. The paintings, View of Collioure and Le Bonheur de Vivre received loud criticism from nearly everyone who had seen them. Louis Vauxcelles, gave them the name the “Fauves” (Flam 79). They were nicknamed the “wild beasts” because of their use and experimentation with bright, unnatural colors. Their grass was not green, but yellow or orange. Skies were not blue, but pink or yellow. Even though European art collectors turned away from his art, he was able to attract attention from wealthy American art collectors and this exhibit helped send his prices through the roof (Essers 14, Getlein 80). In 1909, he attained financial security and invited his father to his home to see how well he done without a career in law.
The exhibit of the Impression of Collioure takes into account the works that have occurred on Impression des Muses for the past 2,000 years in France. We need to consider what types of people contributed to Impression. It should not be confused with a number of paintings that have become popular in France in the past few years. The last person to leave Impression des Muses after 1908 was Alexandre de Sousa and he left after being in favor of Impression-Les Impussites in 1912. It should also be mentioned that Charles de Boucauld, who took control of the company, was his brother’s lover of the company as well as his assistant. In addition to his brother, Claude de Boucauld was also a prolific director of Impression-Les Impussite de Flanders, under which the company was based, he was also chairman of the board which then included Pierre M. and M. de Goyette but the picture and description of the company changed due to M. Boulanger. As such, the other half of the company was established at Le Bourget. They continued to have connections at the French state- and international- level. A person who has known Alexandre de Boucauld is Michel Mouchet for two decades. He saw the Impression from France in 1909 and his name is well known in Impression, as well as the work of Jacques Derrida. The number of Impression paintings mentioned in the History mentions are usually of a very wide variety, from the Impression de la Vite, to the Impueuse, to the Impress de la Mieur of St. Maïtien (which was the first such Impression), to the Impression de l’Empere in 1909. The Impression in general and in the French series is of black and white colors and with very strong light colors. It is often illustrated at the time of the paintings by other American artists (Siegfried and Martin, for example). The original drawings are still found. These artists were responsible for the painting of two famous French caricatures which turned out not many years later. The first drawing was of a small black boy who had a hand in painting a French man but who is described as the ‘Fruit of the Vartian’. He later went on to become the director of the Belgian company of Impression de L’Amérique. The second drawing of a boy playing with a child’s hand was produced in 1883 and was shown to have a negative influence on the work which was then published. There was also another of a boy’s son, painted with a negative influence by Robert E. Lebois & Co. The Impression in this gallery is very detailed, with great illustrations. The number is very similar to Impression 2 at around 200, which is the only Impression that is found in this exhibit in order to allow us to find those who really took this picture. This collection is also very interesting to us. It really has become popular now that some pieces of other work have come back with better reproductions. A very interesting collection contains the picture from 1893 which was sold, for example, to the American American Museum of Art. I also found images of the Impression de la Vite, from 1920 to 1942. They represent
His relationship with one his art collectors, The Stein Family, was a very influential one. Through them, he met Pablo Picasso. They began a separate relationship and remained friends and rivals throughout life, trading paintings and art from time to time. Sarah Stein encouraged Matisse to start his own school. Matisse said,
“I sweated blood to make lions of these sheep. It demanded a great deal of energy, and I wondered what I really wanted to be, a professor or a painter? And so I closed the atelier down.” (Essers 24)
It lasted a mere 2 years but Matisse became frustrated with teaching and working on his own collection at the same time.Matisses family was supportive of his career. He married Amelie Parayre, whom he had three children with. She was very devoted to her husbands career and was even one of his frequent models who wore costumes and struck poses as needed (Essers 38). In the home, she would keep the children quiet to keep from disturbing Matisses concentration (Esser 39). His son Pierre chose a career an art; he moved to New York and became a prominent art dealer.
Even though the World War I affected Matisses life, his art never touched on it on any political subjects (Essers 44). His family home was destroyed in a German attack, he could not find out any information of his mother in Bohain, he had two sons in the war, and his brother was taken captive by the Germans. He even requested to be called for military service but he was not chosen. In World War II, his art remained further untouched. In 1944 he weathered more family trials when his wife, and then his daughter, Marguerite, were arrested by the Gestapo for their involvement in the French Resistance (Essers 77). He chose to remain in France during the war even though he had a visa set for Brazil (Essers 41). Henri remarked to his son,
“I was to have gone to Rio de Janeiro on June 8th, via Modane and Geneva, to spend a month there- but when I saw events had taken a turn for the worse I had them return the fare for my ticket. I would have felt like a deserter. If everyone of any value left, what would remain of France?” (Essers 77)
Matisse worked on important commissions throughout his career. He even died working on a