Dearest Cleo
It has been a long week and it is only Tuesday, how are you finding it? I forgot to ask if you enjoyed your firework party but I am sure you did. I didn’t have to go to any galleries to do this one as I went to the exhibition several years ago and have a well thumbed copy of the catalogue and I have done a lot of reading around the subject.
Figure 1 Icarous by Henri Matisse
You may remember this one from our visit to Pizza Express, I don’t know if it is still there because I stopped going when they took Quattro Formaggi off the menu.
The best internet site I found for a description of the Cut Outs was the MoMA one which describes Matisse’s process in some detail, the link is in the Bibliography below.
The challenge was to make a cut out, I made several and I have been making them for a couple of weeks now. I don’t have any studio assistants to paint the paper for me to cut out, so I decided to make one a week from the Sunday Times Magazines from solid blocks of colour I could rescue from the week’s issue. I intend to continue with this so don’t be too surprised to get an update in the future.
Figure 2 ST Number 01 Collage on A5 card
This one reminds me of a Cubist chair, let’s not forget after all that it was Picasso who invented collage.
Figure 3 ST Number 02 Collage on A5 card.
With this one I was concerned with what was in front of what and how the colours and tones indicated recession and depth.
Figure 4 ST Number 03 Collage and Sharpie on A5 card.
As you know I don’t watch TV, but the TV listings in the magazine look like subtle tones if you squint a bit or look from far away enough.
Figure 5 ST Number 04 Collage and Sharpie on A5 card.
Still fascinated by the tones of the TV listings I found it interesting how the colours float behind and within and in front of the tones and how the minds eye conjures up 3 dimensions from a flat surface.
I had no preconceived ideas of which way was up, that they all became portrait format is the eventual way that the collages suggested when they were finished. There may be a deep unconscious reason for this, no doubt a critic of the future more schooled in Freudian theories that I will be able to explain this to everybody.
Well dear, that is the first four weeks over, but I can feel this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, look for the sign of the cut paper and we will see where this takes itself.
Just as an aside I noticed something else, If you are going to have a blockbuster exhibition or write a book about art and are stuck for a title, start with a colon and put some words either side of it, its not about art unless it has a colon.
My love as always
Mickos xx
Gallery visits
Tate Modern. Matisse: The cut outs
Tate Liverpool. Works to know by heart: Matisse in Focus
Books
Buchberg, K. (2014) Matisse: The Cut Outs. London: Tate Publishing
Elderfield, J. (1984) The Drawings of Henri Matisse. London: Arts Council
Flam, J.D. (1978) Matisse on Art. New York : E.P. Dutton
Essers, V. (1987) Henri Matisse: Master of colour. Koln: Tachen
Neret, G.( 1996) Henri Matisse: Cut outs. Koln: Tachen
Internet Research
Matisse, H. (1908) Notes from a painter. At: http://www.austincc.edu/noel/writings/matisse%20-%20notes%20of%20a%20painter.pdf (Accessed on 14/10/18)
MoMA (s.d.) The Cut outs At: hhttps://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2014/matisse/the-cut-outs. (Accessed on 14/10/18)
Tate Modern (2014) Henri Matisse: the Cut outs. At: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/henri-matisse-cut-outs (Accessed on 14/10/18)
Tate Liverpool (s.d.) Works to know by heart: Matisse in Focus. At: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/display/works-know-heart-matisse-focus (Accessed on 14/10/18)
Dear Cleo 