Artist Stories

Henri Matisse’s Cut-Outs

Zuzanna Stańska 29 December 2021 min Read

Coping with the difficulties of old age and illness in the years following World War II, Matisse nonetheless produced some of the most vibrant and dynamic works of his career. The artist turned almost exclusively to cutting paper as his primary medium. He lived and worked in southern France, in sunny studios in Vence and Nice. Following surgeries for severe intestinal disease, he was confined mostly to his bed and to a wheelchair. Working with paper turned out to be an ideal solution to his limited range of movement.

In this short video, you can see rare colored footage of Henri Matisse himself making paper cut-outs:

Matisse initially kept his cut-out technique a secret. In 1943, however, he began to work on Jazz, an illustrated book of cut-out designs. Its main theme was the circus, and its pages reproduced Matisse’s lively paper acrobats, clowns, and animals. However, there were also hints of wartime violence in the illustrations’ exploding starbursts and falling bodies.

Henri Matisse, Icarus 1946 Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Droits réservés © Succession Henri Matisse / DACS 2013
Henri Matisse, Icarus, 1946, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.

The artist created some of his best-known art in the final decade of his life, and he made it from the simplest materials: shapes cut from colorful sheets of paper. He described these works as “drawing with scissors,” and he used this technique for works of various sizes and subjects.

Matisse at the Hôtel Régina, Nice, c. 1952. Photo: Lydia Delectorskaya. © 2014 Succession H. Matisse
Matisse at the Hôtel Régina, Nice, c. 1952. Photo by Lydia Delectorskaya. © 2014 Succession H. Matisse.

Matisse died in 1954 at the age of 84. His last years of life led to an extraordinary burst of expression, the culmination of half a century of work, but also to a radical renewal that made it possible for him to create what he had always struggled for. He wrote:

I have needed all that time to reach the stage where I can say what I want to say.

Recommended

Artist Stories

Powerful or Problematic? Robert Mapplethorpe’s Photographs

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe shocked the world with his images of bondage, gay sex, female bodybuilders and naked black men. Technically brilliant or politically problematic, what do you think?

Candy Bedworth 7 August 2023

Piero della Francesca Artist Stories

Piero della Francesca: Artist, Mathematician, Humanist

Piero della Francesca was not only an accomplished artist of the Early Renaissance, but also one of the greatest mathematicians of his day. His works...

Natalia Iacobelli 13 September 2023

Artist Stories

Marc Chagall in 10 Paintings

Marc Chagall is one of the most well-known artists of the 20th century. His works exhibit elements from various movements such as Surrealism,...

Jimena Escoto 7 July 2023

Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais Artist Stories

The Radical and Rebellious Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur's vivid animal portraits made her one of France's richest 19th century artist. Her unconventional personal life is fascinating!

Candy Bedworth 29 June 2023