Arguably one of the most beloved

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rguably one of the most beloved

works of twentieth-century art, Henri Matisse’s “Jazz” portfolio—with its inventiveness, spontaneity, and pure, intensely pigmented color— projects a sense of joy and freedom. The twenty images in the portfolio were based on collages that Matisse made by cutting sheets of vividly colored painted paper with scissors when, as an invalid, he could no longer paint. The painter compared his act of cutting into color to a sculptor cutting into stone. This new way of working, discovered late in his life, had an extraordinarily liberating effect on him. It became the means by which Matisse created remarkable and unparalled imagery. This work seems even more astonishing when we realize that Matisse made this glorious affirmation of freedom in the years 1943 and 1944, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in Occupied France during the grim years of the Second World War.

Matisse began working on the paper cutouts for the “Jazz” series after he had already designed several cutout images to serve as covers for Verve, a French art magazine published by Tériade (nom de plume of Stratis Eleftheriades). Indeed, the two-part

compositions of several of the “Jazz” prints, such as The Circus (4), do resemble book covers.

Matisse gave this new set of images the title “Jazz” because, as he wrote, the images were “a series of chromatic and rhythmic improvisations,” as is jazz. Matisse’s images refer less to music than to his memories of the circus and travel. At one time, he actually had thought of calling the series, “Le cirque” (The Circus). Many of the prints address the circus theme directly. The Clown (3) has its roots in Matisse’s preliminary design for a curtain for a ballet, 1938. Monsieur Loyal (5) represents the historic ringmaster of the Cirque L’Impératrice and Cirque Napoléon. In The Nightmare of the White Elephant (6), the captive elephant, performing on a white ball, dreams of his native forests. The ringmaster’s whip curls and snakes diagonally through The Horse, the Circus Rider, and Matisse: “Jazz”

MAy 23–SEPTEMbEr 21, 2014 JOHN brAdy PrINT GALLEry

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the Clown (7). The Codomas (13) were famous trapeze artists who leaped above a net. The Swimmer in the Aquariuim (14) recalls an act Matisse had seen at a Parisian music hall of a swimmer in a large tank. Similarly, The Sword Swallower (15), The Cowboy (16), and The Knife Thrower (17) refer to acts in popular shows. Other “Jazz” images evoke stories and myths. The Wolf (8) refers to the story of Little red riding Hood. Icarus (10) with a red heart—he, who in myth, flew too close to the sun—falls from a starry sky. The Heart (9), one of several two-part compositions in the series, introduces the theme of love.

Several images seem to point to Matisse himself, and to the act of making art. Pierrot’s Funeral (12) may refer to Matisse’s own near-death experience. Matisse had compared himself, an artist, to an acrobat and juggler. The compositionally static and somber Destiny (18), with its clinging couple and the black-violet double profile of an African mask, may evoke the dark times of the war. The three biomorphic prints of The Lagoon (19, 20, 21), printed in tropical colors, recall Matisse’s trip to the South Seas in 1930. Matisse made these last three works at the same time, in 1944, and the designs share some of the same cutout elements.

In September 1947, Tériade published “Jazz,” using the medium of pochoir to print the images. Pochoir is a printing process involving the fabrication of metal stencils replicating the design elements, cut by artisans known as découpeurs, and the application of either transparent watercolor or opaque gouache with stiff bristle brushes through the stencils, executed by printers known as coloristes. French printers perfected and used this technique during the early- to mid-twentieth century. Pochoir is largely associated with prints in the Art Nouveau and Art deco styles, with fashion plates, and with reproductive printmaking. but “Jazz” is surely the most splendid result that artists and printers ever achieved with pochoir. Matisse’s assistants had painted with vivid, opaque Linel gouache the sheets of paper that he cut up. This gouache was the very same that the pochoir coloriste 7

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Edmond Vairel would apply through the stencils made after the cutouts, so there was no difference between the colors of the paper cutouts and the prints.

Tériade issued “Jazz” in a deluxe edition of 100 without text. He also published a limited edition of 250 copies of the portfolio in which reproductions of a handwritten text by Matisse appear opposite the prints. Matisse’s lapidary musings and memories concerning art, the circus, stories, and travel in that edition do not explicate the images in “Jazz” literally, but offer thoughts to contemplate in conjunction with the prints.

The Art Center is fortunate to own a complete set of the rare first edition without text. The loose prints are contained in a portfolio folder with ties (23). The portfolio folder’s cover bears the title written in brush-drawn lettering by Matisse, and the back has a calligraphic flourish. Each portfolio includes an individually numbered typographic colophon (1) signed by the artist. The Art Center’s copy is number 20 of 100. The portfolio also includes a table of contents (2) drawn by the artist. Printed in black, the little cyphers of the index page (2) are tiny summary versions of the full-size prints.

Last exhibited in its entirety at the des Moines Art Center downtown in 2006, Matisse’s “Jazz” is now on display in the serene, subtle geometry of the Art Center’s Print Gallery with its curved ceiling coves and natural building materials. designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1946 and completed in 1948, the construction of the Art Center’s original building was exactly contemporary with the production of the “Jazz” portfolio. Here, Matisse’s masterwork of modern art finds its true home. Amy N. Worthen

Curator of Prints and drawings This gallery guide is published in

conjunction with Matisse: “Jazz.” The exhibition is on view in the John Brady Print Gallery of the Des Moines Art Center from May 23–September 21, 2014. Amy N. Worthen, curator of prints and drawings, organized the exhibition.

Des Moines Art Center 4700 Grand Avenue

Des Moines, Iowa 50312-2099 515.277.4405

www.desmoinesartcenter.org Design: Annabel Wimer Photography: Rich Sanders, Des Moines

PDFs of this gallery guide may be downloaded from the Art Center’s website.

Cover image:

“Jazz” portfolio, front cover

Exhibition program Gallery Talk Amy N. Worthen

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print club entirelyunexpected

Checklist

Henri Matisse French, 1869–1954

“Jazz,” published by Tériade, 1947

A portfolio of 20 pochoir prints on Velin d’Arches paper, with colophon and table of contents des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Meredith III, 1985.21.1–22

1. Colophon

Sheet: 25 3/4 × 16 5/8 in. (65.4 × 42.2 cm.) 1985.21.1

2. Table des Images (Table of Images)

Sheet: 25 3/4 × 16 5/8 in. (65.4 × 42.2 cm.) 1985.21.2

3. Le clown (The Clown), Plate I

Sheet: 16 9/16 x 25 11/16 in. (42.1 x 65.2 cm.) Image: 16 3/16 x 12 1/8 in. (41.1 x 30.8 cm.) 1985.21.3

4. Le cirque (The Circus), Plate II

5. Monsieur Loyal, Plate III

6. Le cauchemar de l’éléphant blanc (The

Nightmare of the White Elephant), Plate IV Sheet (/Image): 16 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. (42.5 x 65.4 cm.) 1985.21.6

7. Le cheval, L’écuyère et le clown (The Horse, the

Circus Rider and the Clown), Plate V

Sheet (/Image): 16 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (42.2 x 65.4 cm.) 1985.21.7

8. Le loup (The Wolf), Plate VI

9. Le coeur (The Heart), Plate VII

Sheet: 16 9/16 x 25 3/4 in. (42.1 x 65.4 cm.) Image: 14 7/8 x 24 in. (37.8 x 61 cm.) 1985.21.9

10. Icarus, Plate VIII

11. Formes (Forms), Plate IX

Sheet: 16 1/2 x 25 3/4 in. (41.9 x 65.4 cm.) Image: 16 x 22 13/16 in. (40.6 x 57.9 cm.) 1985.21.11

12. L’enterrement de Pierrot (Pierrot’s Funeral),

Plate X

13. Les Codomas (The Codomas), Plate XI

14. La nageuse dans l’aquarium (The Swimmer in

the Aquarium), Plate XII

15. L’avaleur de sabres (The Sword Swallower),

Plate XIII

16. Le cow-boy (The Cowboy), Plate XIV

17. Le lanceur de couteaux (The Knife Thrower),

Plate XV

Sheet (/Image): 16 9/16 x 25 11/16 in. (42.1 x 65.2 cm.)

1985.21.17

18. Le destin (Destiny), Plate XVI

Sheet (/Image): 16 9/16 x 25 3/4 in. (42.1 x 65.4 cm.)

1985.21.18

19. Le lagon (The Lagoon), Plate XVII

20. Le lagon (The Lagoon), Plate XVIII

Sheet: 16 5/8 x 25 9/16 in. (42.2 x 64.9 cm.) Image: 16 x 24 1/8 in. (40.6 x 61.3 cm.) 1985.21.20

21. Le lagon (The Lagoon), Plate XIX

22. Le tobogan (The Toboggan), Plate XX

Sheet: 16 5/8 x 25 1/2 in. (42.2 x 64.8 cm.) Image: 12 7/8 x 11 7/16 in. (32.7 x 29.1 cm.) 1985.21.22 23. Portfolio Cover 26 5/16 × 17 5/16 × 7/8 in. (66.8 × 44 × 2.2 cm.) 1 2 23