MATISSE:
Drawing with Scissors
Late Works 1950-1954
A Hayward Touring Exhibition
Paisley Museum
High Street, Paisley PA1 2BA
28 June – 28 September
Admission: £3 (£2 conc)
The French painter, sculptor and designer, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was one of the 20th century’s most influential artists. His vibrant works are celebrated for their extraordinary richness and luminosity of colour. Matisse: Drawing with Scissors, a Hayward Touring exhibition from the Southbank Centre, features 35 lithographic reproductions of the famous cut-outs, produced in the last four years of his life, when the artist was confined to his bed. It includes many of his iconic images, such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes. It opens at Paisley Museum on June 28.
Councillor Jim Harte, Convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Leisure, Sport and Cultural Policy Board states;
“I am delighted that Paisley Museum is hosting this stunning display of reproductions of works from one of the world’s best known artists. Matisse: Drawing with Scissors will provide a rare opportunity for visitors to see some of the most well known art images of the 20th century.”
“Paisley Museum is increasing in popularity with local visitors and tourists alike. As a result of the programming of touring exhibitions such as this and the popular Brick City exhibition earlier this year, alongside changing exhibitions and displays of the museum’s own vast and important collections, Paisley Museum will continue to play a significant role in the regeneration of Paisley town centre.”
Matisse continued creating highly original works into his eighties. For his cut-outs he used paper hand-painted with gouache, laid down in abstract or figurative patterns: ‘the paper cut-out allows me to draw in the colour … Instead of drawing the outline and putting the colour inside it…I draw straight into the colour’. The colours he used were so strong that he was advised by his doctor to wear dark glasses.
The lithographic reproductions in this exhibition are taken from a special double issue of Verve, a review of art and literature, published by Tériade, a major publisher of fine art books in 1958.
Matisse began his working life as a lawyer, before going to Paris to study art in 1890. At first strongly influenced by the Impressionists, he soon created his own style, using brilliant, pure colours, and started making sculptures as well as paintings. In 1905 he and his colleagues were branded the Fauves (wild beasts) because of their unconventional use of colour, and it was during this time that he painted his celebrated Luxe, Calme et Volupté (Luxury, Tranquillity and Delight).
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