Chatting with Henri Matisse /anglais - Hardcover

COURTHION PIERRE

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9781849762298: Chatting with Henri Matisse /anglais

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1849762295 ISBN 13: 9781849762298

Publisher: TATE, 2013

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In 1941 the Swiss art critic Pierre Courthion interviewed Henri Matisse while the artist was in bed recovering from a serious operation. After months of complicated discussions between them, and just weeks before the book was to come out - the artist even had approved the cover design - Matisse suddenly refused its publication. Taken from a typescript of the interview which resides at the Getty Research Institute, this rich conversation (conducted during the Nazi occupation of France) is published for the first time in this volume, where it appears both in English translation and in the original French version. Matisse unravels memories of his youth and his life as a bohemian student in Gustave Moreau's atelier. He recounts his experience with collectors, including Alfred Barnes. He discusses fame, writers, musicians, politicians, and, most fascinatingly, his travels. With a preface by Claude Duthuit, Matisse's grandson, Chatting with Henri Matisse contains a preface by and essays by Yve-Alain Bois and Laurence Bertrand Dorleac. The book also includes unpublished correspondence and other original documents related to Courthion's interview and abounds with details about avant-garde life, tactics, and artistic creativity in the first half of the twentieth century.

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About the Author:

Serge Guilbaut is professor of art history at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, writes extensively on modern and contemporary art.

From Publishers Weekly:

In 1941, Swiss art critic Courthion interviewed Matisse in Lyon while the artist was recovering from a serious operation, for a book to be published by Albert Skira, founder of the eponymous publishing house. Over several days, Matisse and Courthion discussed topics including the artist's early years as a student of Gustave Moreau in Paris; his relationship with Renoir, Cezanne, and Pissaro; his collaborations with Sergei Diaghilev; and his travels in Morocco and their impact on his work. Just a few weeks before the book was slated to be released, Matisse blocked its publication, stating that he had conducted the interview while under sedation. Fortunately, the manuscript landed at the Getty Research Institute, where it was later discovered by art history professor Guilbaut (How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art), who here publishes the complete interviews in English and French, along with reproductions of the original edited manuscript and transcript rejected by Matisse. The volume includes two short, very astute critical essays on Matisse as a traveler and on the artist's decision to remain in Nazi-occupied France, along with numerous photographs of the artist and reproductions of his work. This important book provides great insight into Matisse as an artist and individual, as well as into the journalist's interviewing and editing process. 23 color and 28 b&w illus. (Sept.)

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