Printer: Mourlot (1 of 800 Editions) 

Dimensions: 52 x 48 cm

Condition: Very good condition

Available: Charcoal

Description: Henri Matisse designed this striking poster in 1952 for Les Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps (Painters as Witnesses of Their Time), the exhibition held at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in January 1953. Rather than reproducing an earlier painting, Matisse created an original cut paper design especially for the poster. It is signed and dated H. Matisse 52, recording the year the design was conceived, even though the exhibition opened the following year.

By the early 1950s, Matisse was in his eighties and working largely from his bed or wheelchair at the Hôtel Régina in Nice. Unable to paint in the traditional way, he began cutting directly into sheets of painted paper and directing assistants to pin the shapes to his studio walls. What began as a practical solution became one of the most inventive chapters of his career.

This poster belongs to that extraordinary final period. It is one of the few exhibition posters to feature an original design created specifically by Matisse, making it an important example of both his celebrated cutouts and post-war French graphic design.

Artist: Henri Matisse (1869-1954) the French artist, draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and painter was one of the undisputed masters and influential artists of 20th century art. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and would quickly become the leader of the fauvist movement. He was known for his use of brilliant colour, inspired by his time on the French Riviera, and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was one of the three artists, along with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, who began to revolutionise the artworld from the 1900s. For over 60 years, his vast output included painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic arts – etchings, linocuts, aquatints, paper cut-outs and book illustrations. And he worked with Mourlot studios on lithographs and exhibition posters.