"...the retina demands surprises..."
From a poster: From the Blue Nude series of cutouts (1952) Gouache on paper, cut and pasted on paper.
Matisse in a wheelchair, working on a cutout, Hotel Regina, Nice, 1952. From MATISSE ON ART (Revised Edition) by Jack Flam (1995) University of California Press Berkely and L.A. California.
In an interview with Andre Verdet (p. 212 paper back) Matisse explained that scissors can acquire more feeling for line than pencil or charcoal. To him sensitivity often lies in the instantaneousness of gesture; a freshness always carefully protected from what might elegantly sink into routine.
Thus, the gesture of the sun's rays has instantly changed, temporarily, the carefully protected elegance of a Blue Nude from sinking into its routinely accepted familiar shape. That is what SSS is all about!
"MATISSE ON ART" is a fascinating discussion on the painter's thoughts about his creative process as Jack Flam documents the growth of early modernism of twentieth-century art.
FOR MORE SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY visit HEY HARRIET HERE #82
PS MATISSE As Printmaker - is currently on exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
