Matisse : Cut-Out Fun with Matisse

Henri Matisse created some of his most exquisite works by cutting shapes out of paper. Delightfully entertaining and playfully inventive, his "paintings with scissors" are also a superb introduction to the most basic artistic concepts: color, line, and form.

This engaging and accessible look at Matisse’s cut-outs, arguably the highlight of his magnificent career, follows the artist as he goes in search of pure forms of expression. Illustrated with beautiful reproductions and details of Matisse’s most famous works, the book explains how the artist’s paintings evolved over the course of his life, gradually becoming flatter, simpler and more chromatically pure until they resembled the cut outs themselves. Matisse’s spontaneity, his love of bold colors, and his seemingly effortless ability to capture movement on paper make him one of the most appealing artists to children. Fun and easy-to-follow, this exploration of Matisse’s cut-outs invites children of all ages to grab a pair of scissors, find some colored paper, and "paint."

Max Hollein has worked at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and is currently director of the Schirn Gallery in Frankfurt, Germany. Nina Hollein is an architect who has worked in Vienna and New York.