Jazz (Henri Matisse)

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Cover of Jazz by Henri Matisse

Jazz (1947) is a book of about one hundred prints based on paper cutouts by Henri Matisse. Tériade, a noted 20th century art publisher, arranged to have Matisse's cutouts rendered as pochoir (stencil) prints.

1 Original creation
2 Subsequent history
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Original creation

Matisse was in his seventies and in poor health when he began this project; he could no longer draw or paint easily with a pencil or brush. He used scissors to cut out simple forms from brightly colored paper painted to his specifications with gouache, then arranged them on another sheet of gouache-painted paper. Assistants took these assemblages and prepared them for printing. It was a popular practice at the time for noted artists to create limited edition books. The original intention was for Matisse to illustrate poems written by a French author. As Matisse began, he used a large fluid brush to write notes to himself on construction paper about his thoughts as he created the images. The simple visual appearance of the words pleased Matisse, and he suggested using his roughly painted words in juxtaposition with the images, rather than the original poems. The publisher agreed.

Many of the prints in Jazz take their theme from the theatre or circus. Tériade came up with the seemingly inappropriate title. However, Matisse not only went along, but was taken with the idea, sensing a connection of the visual and musical through improvisation on a theme.

None of the original copies were bound, and many of the purchasers arranged with prominent artists like Cocteau (copy in Victoria and Albert Museum) or famous graphic designers to create binders for the pages. Each of the pages is about 24 inches by 12 inches and folded in the center. Some of the pages have Matisse's text on the left side and an image on the right; other pages, like The Funeral of Pierrot, cover the entire sheet and there is no text. To bind the pages would destroy the images. Covers simply press the pages flat and hold them together. The original edition of September 30, 1947 consisted of 250 sets of prints and sold for $120 each.

[edit] Subsequent history

Virtually all the original books and loose prints are now held by museums. They must be stored and handled carefully because some of the pigments used will deteriorate if exposed to too much light. Copies can be seen, however, at Indiana University in Bloomington, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. There was a second well-crafted reprint version published by George Braziller, Inc. in 1983, and a number of smaller versions with selections from the originals have also been published. The Braziller edition contains a good introduction to the collection by Riva Castleman with an English translation of Matisse's text by Sophie Hawkins.

Jazz is one of the most successful of the limited edition books published by 20th century artists, including those by Picasso, Chagall and Dufy. Some of the prints from Jazz have become classic images and have been reproduced countless times as posters. Among the most popular have been: Icarus, The Sword Swallower, The Swimming Pool, The Funeral of Pierrot, and Toboggan.