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The working method of the influential French painter, draughtsman and sculptor Henri Matisse (1869 -1954) is very reminiscent of the way jazz music is created. Matisse travelled to the farthest corners of the earth at a time when this was far from common. In the countries he visited, he gained impressions that he incorporated into his visual art. His work shows influences from Eastern, Islamic, Moorish and Tahitian art. Although Matisse became best known for his portraits of women and his still lifes, music has always inspired him. For Sergei Diaghilev’s ‘Ballets Russes’, set to the music of Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Le chant du rossignol’, he designed both the set and costumes.
His work increasingly showed his feelings, leading to explosions of contrasting colours. ‘It is as if Matisse threw a pot of paint in his audience’s face,’ noted one critic after visiting an exhibition.
Until late in his life, he continued to try new techniques, constantly searching for the ultimate expression. External constraints didn’t curb him, but challenged his creativity. When he became bedridden after major surgery and painting became impossible, he decided to use a pair of scissors. Assistants painted paper in bright colours desired by Matisse from which the master himself cut out shapes in an improvising manner.
In 1947, the book Jazz was published by publisher Tériade in a limited edition of 250. It contained high-quality prints of twenty collages, focusing on the circus, mythology and Matisses’ travels. The title, which he coined with his publisher, referred to the similarities of the ‘chromatic opulence’ that characterises jazz music and of which Matisse’s work is the visual equivalent. In calligraphic texts on the pages between the images, Matisse describes what drove him in creating his swinging improvisational art: ‘To cut right into colours makes me think of a sculptors carving into stone,’ he writes. On the role of the artist, he says: ‘I must never be a prisoner, even of myself, the prisoner of a style, the prisoner of reputation or prisoner of good fortune. It’s important to safeguard my liberties.’
Initially, the collages were intended for the French magazine Verve, not to be confused with the record label of the same name. However, the publisher loved them so much that they deserved their own stage. The book became a success, many reprints followed. American trumpeter Wynton Marsalis used ‘Icarus’, one of the best-known works in the series as the cover of his album ‘The Majesty of the Blues’ (1989). ‘Icarus’ also does well as a poster.
