mcauleyhouseartists: Exploring Matisse

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Exploring Matisse

Henri Matisse, Interior in Aubergines, 1911-1912

We just finished our second thematic art class which examined the life and art of Henri Matisse (French, 1869- 1954 ). Matisse was one of the original 'Fauves' known for his bold use of color and brushwork. He was much inspired by his travels and used that visual, exotic, sensual inspiration in his paintings. Matisse wanted his pictures to be expressive, and elements in the painting to play a role. He was devoted to the human figure, but not the anatomical details. It was the paintings ability to engage the viewer that mattered most to Matisse.
Few artists have had their work and life so affected by poor health as Matisse. Beginning from his early years until his death at eighty-four, Matisse was plagued by severe intestinal problems, respiratory illnesses, intestinal cancer with numerous complications, and eventually organ failure which confined him to a wheelchair at the end of his life.

Matisse has been an inspiration for so many individuals. As our class continues to learn more about his life and his struggles I feel his influence will be even more appreciated. Matisse felt that art was healing. When his friends were sick, he would hang his work around their beds, convinced that the bright colors would help them feel better. His philosophy about art was that we should create both from our weakness and from our strength because what we think is our weakness is often our greatest strength.

For Matisse and for us, poor health may hold the key to insight and evolution. When that happens we transform. Many of the artists in our group have both physical and emotional challenges as do many people in our society. The amazing beauty of our group is that we accept each other just the way we are.

The artists were shown various books and works by Matisse. The collages that were created are definitely inspired by Henri Matisse !

Coming together to create beauty

Russell creates his own "Red Interior"

David embraces the colors of Matisse

Matisse would be proud !

Gregory shines bright !

Bob has "captured" Matisse fishing in a great pink hat !

About the Art Program

5 Ways to Grow as an Artist

So how would a Cassatt or a Henri or Picasso approach painting differently than we do today? How might this heartfelt fear of others controlling our painting process impact our self-understanding as artists? Here are five possible answers:

1. Making a successful picture is not the goal. Think of periods, such as childhood, when we grew, our self-understanding changed and we became more of who we are. There was an endless stream of events where we expressed ourselves and slowly began to discover the things that pleased us. As with the sense of freedom characterized above, the entire payoff was growth. The events of life when we grow are the things that happen along the way. Making art should be exactly the same. Paintings are just the series of events or steps we take. Let them go. Keep moving. Or as Henri implored, “Keep living.”

2. The painting process is always a beginning. As soon as the freshness evaporates (we are bored or lost or acquire interest in something else), stop. Do not think in terms of finishing. Picasso lectures eloquently on this. Finish is the death of our work because it means we are painting an expectation or “to be like” and that puts the brakes on painting to see and feel more deeply. Every beginning is a new prompt, a new point of departure. Begin everything. Finish nothing.

3. Ignore non-artist authorities. Juries, the grantors, the gallery, the direction from above are just so many fingers in our pie. All external measures are dangerous because they not only push us to performing, as opposed to creating, but their sense of worth takes over our own. This is precisely what Parisian artists fought against.

4. Get into a prolonged creative process. Have dozens of paintings in your studio that have been abandoned for one reason or another, left in various stages, unfinished but always complete as expressions of who you were at that moment. Work on several paintings simultaneously. You are not making shoes.

5. Furnish the world with your beauty, let the world see, touch and feel who you are. Scary I know. It is so much easier to hide within safe fortresses, the sources of praise and dignity that we can count on by pleasing our audience. This is the dreaded condition called style. We cannot be free to be who we are if we are not always risking being who we are in front of others.