Folio Books: Review of Jazz by Henri Matisse (George Braziller)

Jazz

by Henri Matisse

Published by George Braziller

In his later years, forced by illness to work on a much smaller scale than that of his great paintings, Henri Matisse produced a series of what he called 'cut-outs' -- compositions made from shapes cut out of brightly painted drawing paper and pasted down. Matisse had always been a great colourist; these compositions of chunks of brilliant, pure colour, with their simple but eloquent lines, are an astonishing distillation of his ideas and techniques.

In the early 1940s Matisse started on the series of 20 cut-outs which were to be published together under the title Jazz (in 1947 in an edition of 250). The source of the title is unclear, but Matisse perhaps saw a likeness between what he called the 'lively and violent tones' of his images, and jazz music. An early alternative was Circus, and in fact a number of the cut-outs fit this theme: 'The Clown,' 'The Sword Swallower,' 'The Knife Thrower.' Others are more abstract; and there are three 'Lagoons,' inspired by Matisse's visit to Tahiti in 1930.

The most famous of the compositions, though, and my favourite, and indeed one of my favourite images in all of art, is 'Icarus,' an iconic depiction of the ill-fated son of Daedalus who flew too close to the sun. In a hopelessly blue sky filled with enormous yellow stars the doomed boy plummets to the earth; without his wings, reduced to a heavy black shape, but his noble heart still glowing with life to the very end. The stars dance helplessly around him; his legs, useless in this element of the air, are heavy and clumsy; his arms, bereft now of feathers, still bent in a desperate attempt to slow his fall. And at the centre of the composition the tiny heart pulses tragically.

The edition of Jazz at hand is a 1992 reprint by George Braziller. I don't know what the dimensions of the original edition are; this reprint measures approximately 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, hard bound. I believe this is a reduction from the size of the 1947 version. Quite a small book, but inch for inch and ounce for ounce one of the most substantial art books you are likely to come across. The quality of the reproductions is superb. The true intensity of the colours comes through unimpeded.

The cut-outs are separated by 'intervals' of text composed by Matisse and reproduced in his own handwriting. The text is not for the most part directly connected to the cut-outs. It consists of a series of brief meditations on random themes, which Matisse states are included for 'purely visual' purposes. It is too much to claim that they comprise a brief credo of artistic purpose, but they at least hint at what Matisse was thinking of as he created the cut-outs.

The text is of course written in French, but a translation by Sophie Hawkes is included. There is also an introduction by Riva Castleman which explains the genesis of the Jazz series.

Jazzis a gorgeous book, which I think ought to be essential to any admirer of Matisse.

N.L., 29 December, 1997

Jazz by Henri Matisse, published by George Braziller, US$14.95 ($10.45 on Amazon at time of writing, 30% off). Order or see more on Amazon