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Henri
Matisse (1869 - 1954)
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Although
Henri Matisse began his career as a lawyer, he soon turned to art and
studied painting at the Academie Julian in Paris. In 1904, he had his
first one man exhibition sponsored by the famous publisher Ambroise Vollard.
Matisse loved the South of France and worked there for several years during
the turn of the century.
The paintings created at this time reflect the influence of Cezanne, van
Gogh and the Impressionists. In 1905, he participated in the Paris Salon
d'Automne - the show from which the term "Fauve" was coined. After this
show, he traveled widely and enjoyed much professional success.
His experiments with more subdued colors and a more Cubist approach were
discontinued after 1917 when he returned to the colors and forms which
gave him more pleasure and better reflected his "joie de vivre".
One of his greatest projects was the Dominican Chapel at Vence for which
he designed the interior, including the magnificent stained glass windows.
Although crippled by illness in 1941, he continued to work and created
some of his greatest book projects using cut-out colored paper. Major
illustrated books include "Poesies," 1932; "Pasiphae," 1944;
"Jazz," 1947.
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