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Henri in BronzeMatisse: Painter as Sculptor
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Matisse's sculptural works inspired his painting. The Frenchman dabbled in multiple mediums: painting, drawing, graphic arts, paper cut-outs and book illustrations among them. |
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Baltimore's Museum of Art has 22 Matisse sculptures in it's permanent collection. An exhibition focusing on this important development of the artist's career has a natural home at the BMA. |
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Over half of Matisse's sculptures were completed in the first decade of the 20th Century. He liked to work on series pieces in his sculptures such as the Large Seated Nude sculptures all of which were created in the 1920s.
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One of the catalysts for this exhibit was the first comprehensive technical study of Matisse's sculptures in international collections starting with the BMA and exploring his works at various institutions such as Musée du Louvre, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, the Musées Matisse and Cateau-Cambresis, the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. |
Two key discoveries were made. First that the bronze casts of the same edition had significant differences found in their methods of construction, patination, finishing, and size. Secondly the study team found that Matisse had made piece molds from the wet clay original following casting. He did this to enable him to spend more time working his models for his series pieces of sculptures.
Title: Large Seated Nude. 1922-1929 (cast 1930).
Artist: Henri Matisse (French 1869-1954)
Permanent Collection: The Baltimore Museum of Art:
The Cone Collection.
© 2007 Succession H. Matisse, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Image Courtesy: The Baltimore Museum of Art
Several editions of Henri Matisse's sculptures were actually cast in the later years of his career for financial considerations. His fame was such, at that time, that there were collectors willing and able to pay for them. Following his death, Matisse's heirs cast his last series The Backs (I-IV). In the 1990s Matisse's heirs destroyed the original molds and plaster casts to stop any further editions being created.
“This landmark exhibition, which draws on the BMA’s world-renowned collection of works by Matisse, is a testimony to the Museum’s dedication to shedding new light on this great artist,” said BMA Director Doreen Bolger. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Matisse’s genius represented in bronze, on canvas, and on paper with works from around the world.”
Matisse: Painter as Sculptor
Baltimore Museum of Art:
through February 3, 2008