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| We may,begin
by recalling what Matisse himself has told us : The work of
art should be, for the tired business man no less than for the
artist in literature, a cerebral sedative, rather like a comfortable
armchair. Now (this is a well-established fact) it was in the
course of a slow recovery from an attack of appendicitis that
Matisse, then in his twentieth year, was advised by a friend
to try his hand at painting, as being a nice, restful occupation
which would help to while away the time. |
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Portrait
with the green stripe, 1905.
Matisee has confessed that what interests him most is not landscape
or the still life, but the face. With a self-restraint contrasting
with the unabashed enthusiasm of fauvism for the shrillest tones,
the artist, when evoking Matisse's face, show a sudden tendency
towards a sort of abstractionism. |
Portrait
of Henri Matisse, 1906
Here we see a Fixity of gaze that is perhaps difficulty; The
Face looks like a mask, a tragic mask, or the mask worn in a
'no' play. Everything that sounds a casual or personal note
is omitted; the spectacles and that gentleness of his eyes which
strikes all who meet matisse have been relegated to the property-room. |
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| Matisse
Seems To Have Been Inspired By The Theme Of This Pastoral In
Painting His Bomheur De Vivre. Generally Speaking, The Composition
Follows The Same Cadences ; This Is Particularly True Of The
Central Figures. On The Right We Find Again The Young Flute-Player.
The Rhythm Of The Tree On The Left Matches That Of The Two Nudes
In Luxe ,Calme Et Volupte. Here The Easy Flow Of The Arabesques,
The Gentleness Of The Colours Conjurf. Up An " Arcadian
Bliss," Classical Both In Outlook And In Composition. |
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