ExpressionismHenri Matisse Master of Color

APRIL 15, 2010

In order to understand Expressionism, lets talk a little about Impressionism...

Impressionism Impressionism is a term used to

describe the art period from 1870-1890.

Emphasized painting what the artist observed.

Realistic scenes of modern life. Often painted outdoors.

Accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter. Small, thin, yet visible brush strokes.

Some artists: Claude Monet, Renoir, Frederic Bazille, Mary Cassatt.

Expressionism

Expressionism is a term used to describe the art period from 1905-1920

Expressionism is the opposite of Impressionism, which emphasized painting what the artist observed

The goals were to express emotions through the use of vivid colors and strong lines, rather than capturing a likeness or reality

Henri Matisse wrote “Creativity takes courage”

Henri Matisse

Matisse lived in France from 1869-1954

When Matisse was young, he became sick with appendicitis. He had to stay in bed for a long time. His mother gave him paints and brushes to give him something to do. He knew then that he wanted to be an artist

Matisse is known for his simple and colorful paintings and collages

Henri Matisse worked on his art for over 60 years and became one of the greatest artists of the Modern Era

Matisse’s style

In 1905, Matisse became the leader of a group of painters called the Fauves, which in French meant the "wild beasts” because people thought their paintings used intense color and wild lines

Color for Matisse was like music, and he often said that he heard "colors sing"

Matisse in later years

When he was in his 80's, Matisse became ill and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Though he could not stand up to paint, he could cut paper

He wrote: "The paper cutouts allow me to draw

with color. Instead of drawing an outline and then filling in with color, I draw directly in color... It is not a starting point, it is a completion."

The Jazz Series

This series of paper cutouts used bright colors and abstract shapes to convey their meaning

Like the music, Jazz is unpredictable, yet beautiful

Icarus Perhaps the best known

collage of the Jazz collection is Icarus, which is based on a Greek myth.

In the legend, the boy Icarus and his father, Deadulus, are trapped on an island by the king as a punishment for disloyalty. Deadulus fashions wings to escape, made from feathers and wax. Although the father tells his son not to get too close to the sun, Icarus doesn't listen. His wings begin to melt in the heat of the sun, and he falls into the sea. This is a picture of the disobedient son, as interpreted by Matisse, falling to earth.

The Swimming Pool - 1952

Commenting on The Swimming Pool, his largest cutout, Matisse said, "I have always adored the sea, and now

that I can no longer go for a swim, I have surrounded myself with it.”

This nearly fifty-four-foot-long collage of blue bathers on a white rectangular band was designed for the walls of Matisse's dining room

The Swimming Pool - continued

Read from right to left, beginning and ending with a starfish, the forms of the diving or swimming people dissolve into the splashing water

Each bather flows into the next

Matisse’s Art Vocabulary Collage - an artistic arrangement of materials and objects

pasted or glued over a surface

Unity: an arrangement in which all the parts seem related or unified

Positive space - Positive space is the space occupied by a subject in a picture

Negative space - Negative space is the space that is not your subject in a picture. It is everything else. It is defined by the edges of the positive space and the frame.

For example, when one cuts a shape out of the middle of a sheet of paper, the cut out shape is the positive space. The rest of the paper, a rectangle with a hole in it, is the negative space.  

Matisse’s Art Vocabulary Abstract - An abstract artwork will not look real, but it

might remind you of something real. Abstract artwork might distort, exaggerate or simplify real things

Realistic - A realistic artwork looks “real,” it shows recognizable places, people, and things. It is also known as “representational art,” because it represents real things

Organic shape - An organic shape is explained as a shape that appears in nature. Examples are the shape of a leaf, or the shape of your shadow

Geometric shape - A geometric shape is a shape that can "easily" be defined using mathematical formulas. Examples of geometric shapes include squares, circles, triangle, spheres, pyramids, and cylinders 

Realistic or Abstract?

Organic or Geometric?