Henri Matisse, the French artist, draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and painter, was one of the undisputed masters and most influential figures of 20th-century art. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and would soon become a leading figure of the Fauvist movement.

He was known for his brilliant use of colour, often inspired by the vibrancy of the French Riviera, and his fluid, original draughtsmanship. Alongside Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, he helped revolutionise the art world in the 1900s. 

Over more than 60 years, his vast output included painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic works (etchings, linocuts, aquatints), paper cut-outs and book illustrations.

Lithography and the cut-outs

Matisse’s collaboration with Atelier Mourlot was crucial in his later years. Working closely with its master printers, he produced more than 100 original lithographs. He was able to translate his paper cut-outs into print, bringing this final phase of his work to a far wider audience.

When ill health made painting difficult, the cut-outs became his primary means of expression. Mourlot offered a way to fix these significant, fragile works into a permanent form without losing their energy or colour. Matisse treated lithography as an art form in its own right, working directly on the stone and personally supervising early proofs.

Through Mourlot’s prints and exhibition posters, Matisse’s late work reached beyond the studio and gallery, securing the legacy of his cut-out period in print. Among the most important results were the forty lithographs published inVerve (1958),Dernières Œuvres de Matisse 1950–54, which included images such as Blue Nudes, The Snail and The Sheaf.