If Matisse means vibrant colours and swirling patterns to you then you’ll have a shock when you enter the exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art. Don’t worry though, the show’s not all muted colours and lithographs. Head towards the back and you will see nine of his Jazz pochoir prints which will bring back memories of the Tate’s L’escargot, albeit on a much smaller scale. Of course I have written pochoir there to sound intelligent. What I really mean are stencils.
The inspiration for this exhibition of prints comes from Matisse’s own words which are etched on the wall at the start of the show. ‘One must always search for the desire of the line, where it wishes to enter or where to die away. Also always be sure of its source; this must be done from the model.‘ And so, scene set, we walk around the gallery following his search for the desire of the line. It usually seems to desire to draw pretty young women, and there are a few photographs of the master at work in his studio that show he took seriously the second clause of his statement and always drew from the model.
This is a well-presented exhibition which covers fifty years of Matisse’s printmaking. It comprises over fifty prints in a variety of graphic media, including etching, drypoint, woodcut, lithography, linocut, and pochoir… Several of the pieces show Matisse’s elegant line, picking out a nude on a blank sheet or in front of his trademark patterned backgrounds. Even in monotones these spring to life.
Matisse is at his best when describing what he sees with single, immediate marks, although the physical simplifications of the nude that work so well and suggest such joie de vivre in much of his work do neither in several of his odalisque drawings. Other pieces seem to have been drawn by another, more circumspect artist. These traditional images and portraits are formal, dark and laboured. Hurry to the small etchings in the final room that show Matisse’s free-form sketching at its best.
A small colour sketch for an early design of the Dance triptych installed in The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia is part of the show, showing that Matisse had to change the shape of the arches from his original design.
Quick, 11th January is the last day. Still, if you miss it Henri Matisse: The Cut-outs is coming later this year at the Tate.
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