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拍品专文
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from Wanda de Guébriant.
In the second half of 1945, an edition of Verve, the prestigious art publication spearheaded by Tériade, was released. Upon its cover, in its frontispiece and in another page within were reproductions of cut-outs by Henri Matisse. De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve) is the working maquette for that publication, and dates, as did the other papiers découpés, to the Summer of 1943.
It was then that Tériade and Matisse had had the idea of an edition of Verve that would be dedicated to Matisse's paintings. This became the 1945 issue, entitled De la couleur - hence the inscription in this work. On this occasion, Verve became a celebration of Matisse's work over the previous half decade, reproducing a number of his paintings as well as cut-outs such as De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve). It had taken the end of the Second World War for such a publication to be released, hence the delay between the initial concept, with De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve) being created in 1943, and the final printing. Intriguingly, during that time, the blue sun of this picture was converted, appearing black when it was finally printed.
While Matisse had not been openly political during the Second World War, several members of his family had been intensely involved with the Resistance and the risks that such a life entailed. Matisse's intensely human vision of life, of beauty, was itself a beacon of hope during those dark years, including in works such as the joyous, colourful sun seen in De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve). Indeed, Matisse's lyrical, colourful vision during this time can be seen as a later parallel to Claude Monet, who insisted on creating his Nymphéas while the First World War was sometimes within earshot. As Louis Aragon, the poet, author and Resistance hero, would write:
'In those days, people will say, they did at least have Matisse, in France... At the darkest point in our night, they will say, he made those luminous drawings’ (L. Aragon, Henri Matisse, A Novel, Vol. 1, trans. J. Stewart, London, 1971, pp. 51-144 and pp. 143-44).
The ideas that led to the cover and frontispiece of Verve included the poetic metaphor of the Fall of Icarus. This would come to inspire an entire publication based on Matisse's cut-outs, Jazz, published a couple of years later. While Matisse's cut-outs had already been used in illustrations for magazines before the outbreak of the Second World War, it was now, with Verve and subsequently Jazz, that they were revealed as autonomous works in their own rights, meaning that De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve) forms an important part of the development of interest in this area of Matisse's career - an area currently being commemorated in the acclaimed exhibition taking place at Tate, London. Now, Matisse was enjoying the discovery of cutting pre-coloured paper to create his compositions. This medium was the solution to his constant search to create a synthesis between his fascination with colour and his drawing. Indeed, he explained, 'Paper cut-outs allow me to draw in colour. For me it is a question of simplification. Instead of drawing the outline and establishing colour within it, I draw directly in the colour, which is more exact for not being transposed. This simplification guarantees precision as I reconcile two means now become one... It is not a beginning, it is an endpoint' (quoted in G. Néret, Henri Matisse, Cut-Outs, trans. C. Miller, Cologne, 1994, p. 10).
In the second half of 1945, an edition of Verve, the prestigious art publication spearheaded by Tériade, was released. Upon its cover, in its frontispiece and in another page within were reproductions of cut-outs by Henri Matisse. De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve) is the working maquette for that publication, and dates, as did the other papiers découpés, to the Summer of 1943.
It was then that Tériade and Matisse had had the idea of an edition of Verve that would be dedicated to Matisse's paintings. This became the 1945 issue, entitled De la couleur - hence the inscription in this work. On this occasion, Verve became a celebration of Matisse's work over the previous half decade, reproducing a number of his paintings as well as cut-outs such as De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve). It had taken the end of the Second World War for such a publication to be released, hence the delay between the initial concept, with De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve) being created in 1943, and the final printing. Intriguingly, during that time, the blue sun of this picture was converted, appearing black when it was finally printed.
While Matisse had not been openly political during the Second World War, several members of his family had been intensely involved with the Resistance and the risks that such a life entailed. Matisse's intensely human vision of life, of beauty, was itself a beacon of hope during those dark years, including in works such as the joyous, colourful sun seen in De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve). Indeed, Matisse's lyrical, colourful vision during this time can be seen as a later parallel to Claude Monet, who insisted on creating his Nymphéas while the First World War was sometimes within earshot. As Louis Aragon, the poet, author and Resistance hero, would write:
'In those days, people will say, they did at least have Matisse, in France... At the darkest point in our night, they will say, he made those luminous drawings’ (L. Aragon, Henri Matisse, A Novel, Vol. 1, trans. J. Stewart, London, 1971, pp. 51-144 and pp. 143-44).
The ideas that led to the cover and frontispiece of Verve included the poetic metaphor of the Fall of Icarus. This would come to inspire an entire publication based on Matisse's cut-outs, Jazz, published a couple of years later. While Matisse's cut-outs had already been used in illustrations for magazines before the outbreak of the Second World War, it was now, with Verve and subsequently Jazz, that they were revealed as autonomous works in their own rights, meaning that De la couleur (Maquette pour Verve) forms an important part of the development of interest in this area of Matisse's career - an area currently being commemorated in the acclaimed exhibition taking place at Tate, London. Now, Matisse was enjoying the discovery of cutting pre-coloured paper to create his compositions. This medium was the solution to his constant search to create a synthesis between his fascination with colour and his drawing. Indeed, he explained, 'Paper cut-outs allow me to draw in colour. For me it is a question of simplification. Instead of drawing the outline and establishing colour within it, I draw directly in the colour, which is more exact for not being transposed. This simplification guarantees precision as I reconcile two means now become one... It is not a beginning, it is an endpoint' (quoted in G. Néret, Henri Matisse, Cut-Outs, trans. C. Miller, Cologne, 1994, p. 10).