LATELIER ROUGE

(THE RED STUDIO)

Henri Matisse, 1911
If my story were ever to be written truthfully from start to finish, it would amaze everyone.

Cristina Eileen Hodgson Ferr Art History, 16/05/2012

CONTENTS
-Historical context and art movement: Fauvism -The artist: Formal
Iconographic
biography, influence, works and innovations

- Analysis of the painting

- Conclusions

LATELIER ROUGE (THE RED STUDIO)

Artist: Henri Matisse Chronology: 1911 Support: Oil on canvas (181 x 219 cm) Location: New York, MoMA

Matisse, by Andr Derain (1905)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND ART MOVEMENT

Fauvism (1905 1907/1910) Social and technological change World events: Mexican Revolution, Chinese Republic, first time airplanes are used in aerial bombing, international tensions (World War I will begin in three years). Science and technology: description of the atom, discovery that human genes carry specific inherited traits, cars and trucks replacing the horse, electricity in cities, radio. Social history: first International Womens day, life expectancy (in France) around 50 years.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND ART MOVEMENT

Fauvism came from a critical review. Henri Matisse, Andr Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck.

Andr Derain, Boats (1905)

Maurice de Vlaminck, Tugboat on the Seine, Chatou (1906)

Salon dAutomme in 1905 (Louis Vauxcelles described them as the Fauves)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND ART MOVEMENT

EXPRESSIONISM

Matisse, Landscape, the Pink Wall, 1898

Kandinsky, Murnau Street with Women , 1908

INFLUENCES

Post-Impressionism

Neo-Impressionism

Vincent van Gogh, Room at Arles (1888)

Paul Signac, Port St. Tropez (1899)

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc. Matisse

EVOLUTION AND END OF THE MOVEMENT

Matisse, Sea at Collioure (1906)

Derain, Collioure (1905)

Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence. Matisse

EVOLUTION AND END OF THE MOVEMENT

Henri Matisse, The Green Stripe (1905)

Andr Derain, Bridge over the Riou (1906)

I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things. Matisse

EVOLUTION AND END OF THE MOVEMENT

Matisse, Odalisque with red trousers (1921)

Delacroix, Reclining Odalisque (1827)

There are always flowers for those who want to see them. Matisse

It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.

HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954)

Born in 1869, Le CateauCambrsis Studied at Pariss Acadmie Julian and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Opened a School in Paris (1908) Published Notes of a Painter (1908) Died of a heart attack in Nice, 1954

Matisse, Self Portrait (1911)

FORMAL ANALYSIS
I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me. Matisse

Simple colours Flat surface Artists studio (IssylesMoulineaux) Perspective space difficult to distinguish

FORMAL
ANALYSIS

Art works appear in colour and detail Architecture and furnishings less important Central axis of the composition: the clock Paintings on the wall guide the sight left to right Vibrating objects

Blue Nude, 1906

Reclining Nude II, 1927

Nasturtiums in The Dance (I), 1912

Nasturtiums in The Dance (II), 1912

ICONOGRAPHY

"Where I got the color redto be sure, I just don't know. I find that all these things only become what they are to me when I see them together with the color red.
When I put a green its not grass. When I put blue its not the skythe chief function of color should be to serve expressionI do not literally paint that table but the emotion it produces on me Green too little contrast. Blue not abstract enough. Red doesnt suggest naturalism

Matisse, Harmony in Red (1908)

Matisse, Dinner Table (1897)

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. Matisse

WORKS FROM THE SAME YEAR (1911)

The painters family

Interior in Aubergines

The Pink Studio