Overview

Towards the end of his monumental career as a painter, sculptor, and lithographer, an elderly, sickly Matisse was unable to stand and use a paintbrush for a longer period of time. In this late phase of his life--he was almost 80 years of age--he developed the technique of 'carving into color', creating bright, bold paper cut-outs. Though dismissed by some contemporary critics as the folly of a senile old man, these gouaches decoupées (gouache cut-outs) in fact represented a revolution in modern art, a whole new medium that re-imagined the age-old conflict between color and line.



This fresh, standard TASCHEN edition of the first volume of our original prize-winning XL book provides a thorough historical context to Matisse's cut-outs, tracing their roots in his 1930 trip to Tahiti, through to his final years in Nice. It includes many photos of Matisse, some rare images, by Henri Cartier-Bresson and the filmmaker F.W. Murnau and text from Matisse, publisher E. Tériade, the poets Louis Aragon, Henri Michaux, and Pierre Reverdy, and Matisse's son-in-law, Georges Duthuit.



In their deceptive simplicity, the cut-outs achieved both a sculptural quality and an early minimalist abstraction which would profoundly influence generations of artists to come. Exuberant, multi-hued, and often grand in scale, these works are true pillars of 20th century art, and as bold and innovative to behold today as they were in Matisse's lifetime.


ISBN-13

9783836536295

ISBN-10

3836536293

Weight

14.02 Pounds

Dimensions

12.00 x 1.50 x 15.25 In

List Price

$80.00

Edition

1st Edition

Format

Hardcover

Language

English

Pages

334 pages

Publisher

Taschen America Llc

Published On

2014-07-18



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Book Alley
★★★★☆

Pasadena, CA, USA

First Edition. Good First Edition printed in Italy. Used with wear but is still in solid reading c...
$161.99

 Free delivery by: 04 Apr 2026

Used, Very Good
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art longwood books
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Gloucester, MA, USA

Folio-over 12"-15" tall. Hardcover, cloth with gilt lettering and affixed color plates to both boar...
$308.99

 Free delivery by: 04 Apr 2026


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