May 23–September 21, 2014
Matisse: “Jazz”
May 23–September 21, 2014
john brady Print Gallery
A
rguably one of the most beloved
works of twentieth-century art, Henri
Matisse’s “Jazz” portfolio—with its
inventiveness, spontaneity, and
pure, intensely pigmented color—
projects a sense of joy and freedom.
The twenty images in the portfolio were based on
collages that Matisse made by cutting sheets of vividly
colored painted paper with scissors when, as an
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invalid, he could no longer paint. The painter compared
his act of cutting into color to a sculptor cutting into
stone. This new way of working, discovered late in his
life, had an extraordinarily liberating effect on him. It
became the means by which Matisse created
remarkable and unparalled imagery. This work seems
even more astonishing when we realize that Matisse
made this glorious affirmation of freedom in the years
1943 and 1944, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in Occupied
France during the grim years of the Second World War.
Matisse began working on the paper cutouts for
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the “Jazz” series after he had already designed several
cutout images to serve as covers for Verve, a French
art magazine published by Tériade (nom de plume of
Stratis Eleftheriades). Indeed, the two-part
compositions of several of the “Jazz” prints, such as
The Circus (4) , do resemble book covers.
Matisse gave this new set of images the title
“Jazz” because, as he wrote, the images were “a series
of chromatic and rhythmic improvisations,” as is jazz.
Matisse’s images refer less to music than to his
memories of the circus and travel. At one time, he
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actually had thought of calling the series, “Le cirque”
(The Circus). Many of the prints address the circus
theme directly. The Clown (3) has its roots in Matisse’s
preliminary design for a curtain for a ballet, 1938.
Monsieur Loyal (5) represents the historic ringmaster of
the Cirque L’Impératrice and Cirque Napoléon. In The
Nightmare of the White Elephant (6) , the captive
elephant, performing on a white ball, dreams of his
native forests. The ringmaster’s whip curls and snakes
diagonally through The Horse, the Circus Rider, and
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4
5
6
9
10
11
14
15
16
19
20
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the Clown (7) . The Codomas (13) were famous trapeze
artists who leaped above a net. The Swimmer in the
Aquariuim (14) recalls an act Matisse had seen at a
Parisian music hall of a swimmer in a large tank.
Similarly, The Sword Swallower (15) , The Cowboy (16) ,
and The Knife Thrower (17) refer to acts in popular
shows. Other “Jazz” images evoke stories and myths.
The Wolf (8) refers to the story of Little Red Riding
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Hood. Icarus (10) with a red heart—he, who in myth,
flew too close to the sun—falls from a starry sky. The
Heart (9) , one of several two-part compositions in the
series, introduces the theme of love.
Several images seem to point to Matisse himself,
and to the act of making art. Pierrot’s Funeral (12) may
refer to Matisse’s own near-death experience. Matisse
had compared himself, an artist, to an acrobat and
juggler. The compositionally static and somber Destiny
(18) , with its clinging couple and the black-violet
double profile of an African mask, may evoke the dark
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times of the war. The three biomorphic prints of The
Lagoon (19, 20, 21) , printed in tropical colors, recall
Matisse’s trip to the South Seas in 1930. Matisse made
these last three works at the same time, in 1944, and
the designs share some of the same cutout elements.
In September 1947, Tériade published “Jazz,”
using the medium of pochoir to print the images.
Pochoir is a printing process involving the fabrication
of metal stencils replicating the design elements, cut
by artisans known as découpeurs, and the application
of either transparent watercolor or opaque gouache
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with stiff bristle brushes through the stencils, executed
by printers known as coloristes. French printers
perfected and used this technique during the early- to
mid-twentieth century. Pochoir is largely associated
with prints in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles,
with fashion plates, and with reproductive printmaking.
But “Jazz” is surely the most splendid result that artists
and printers ever achieved with pochoir. Matisse’s
assistants had painted with vivid, opaque Linel
gouache the sheets of paper that he cut up. This
gouache was the very same that the pochoir coloriste
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This gallery guide is published in
Edmond Vairel would apply through the stencils made
conjunction with Matisse: “Jazz.”
after the cutouts, so there was no difference between the
The exhibition is on view in the
colors of the paper cutouts and the prints.
John Brady Print Gallery of the
Des Moines Art Center from
May 23–September 21, 2014.
Tériade issued “Jazz” in a deluxe edition of 100
without text. He also published a limited edition of 250
copies of the portfolio in which reproductions of a
Amy N. Worthen, curator of
handwritten text by Matisse appear opposite the prints.
prints and drawings, organized
Matisse’s lapidary musings and memories concerning
the exhibition.
art, the circus, stories, and travel in that edition do not
explicate the images in “Jazz” literally, but offer thoughts
Support for this exhibition and
gallery guide is generously
provided by the Des Moines
Art Center Print Club.
to contemplate in conjunction with the prints.
The Art Center is fortunate to own a complete set of
the rare first edition without text. The loose prints are
contained in a portfolio folder with ties (23) . The portfolio
© 2014 Des Moines Art Center
folder’s cover bears the title written in brush-drawn
All rights reserved
lettering by Matisse, and the back has a calligraphic
Des Moines Art Center
flourish. Each portfolio includes an individually numbered
4700 Grand Avenue
typographic colophon (1) signed by the artist. The Art
Des Moines, Iowa 50312-2099
Center’s copy is number 20 of 100. The portfolio also
515.277.4405
includes a table of contents (2) drawn by the artist.
www.desmoinesartcenter.org
Design: Annabel Wimer
Photography: Rich Sanders,
Des Moines
Printed in black, the little cyphers of the index page (2)
are tiny summary versions of the full-size prints.
Last exhibited in its entirety at the Des Moines
Art Center Downtown in 2006, Matisse’s “Jazz” is now on
display in the serene, subtle geometry of the Art Center’s
PDFs of this gallery guide may be
Print Gallery with its curved ceiling coves and natural
downloaded from the Art Center’s
building materials. Designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1946
website.
and completed in 1948, the construction of the Art
Cover image:
“Jazz” portfolio, front cover
Exhibition program
Gallery Talk
Amy N. Worthen
Thursday, May 29 / 6:30 pm
Center’s original building was exactly contemporary with
the production of the “Jazz” portfolio. Here, Matisse’s
masterwork of modern art finds its true home.
Amy N. Worthen
Curator of Prints and Drawings
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2
Checklist
Henri Matisse French, 1869–1954
“Jazz,” published by Tériade, 1947
A portfolio of 20 pochoir prints on Velin d’Arches
paper, with colophon and table of contents
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections;
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Meredith III,
1985.21.1–22
1. Colophon
Sheet: 25 3/4 × 16 5/8 in. (65.4 × 42.2 cm.)
1985.21.1
2. Table des Images (Table of Images)
Sheet: 25 3/4 × 16 5/8 in. (65.4 × 42.2 cm.)
1985.21.2
3. Le clown (The Clown), Plate I
Sheet: 16 9/16 x 25 11/16 in. (42.1 x 65.2 cm.)
Image: 16 3/16 x 12 1/8 in. (41.1 x 30.8 cm.)
1985.21.3
4. Le cirque (The Circus), Plate II
Sheet: 16 9/16 x 25 11/16 in. (42.1 x 65.2 cm.)
Image: 14 1/16 x 21 1/2 in. (35.7 x 54.6 cm.)
1985.21.4
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7. Le cheval, L’écuyère et le clown (The Horse, the
Circus Rider and the Clown), Plate V
Sheet (/Image): 16 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (42.2 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.7
8. Le loup (The Wolf), Plate VI
Sheet (/Image): 16 9/16 x 25 3/4 in. (42.1 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.8
9. Le coeur (The Heart), Plate VII
Sheet: 16 9/16 x 25 3/4 in. (42.1 x 65.4 cm.)
Image: 14 7/8 x 24 in. (37.8 x 61 cm.)
1985.21.9
16. Le cow-boy (The Cowboy), Plate XIV
Sheet (/Image): 16 1/2 x 25 5/8 in. (41.9 x 65.1 cm.)
1985.21.16
17. Le lanceur de couteaux (The Knife Thrower),
Plate XV
Sheet (/Image): 16 9/16 x 25 11/16 in.
(42.1 x 65.2 cm.)
1985.21.17
18. Le destin (Destiny), Plate XVI
Sheet (/Image): 16 9/16 x 25 3/4 in.
(42.1 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.18
10. Icarus, Plate VIII
Sheet: 16 9/16 x 25 11/16 in. (42.1 x 65.2 cm.)
Image: 15 15/16 x 10 9/16 in. (40.5 x 26.8 cm.)
1985.21.10
19. Le lagon (The Lagoon), Plate XVII
Sheet (/Image): 16 5/8 x 25 5/8 in. (42.2 x 65.1 cm.)
1985.21.19
11. Formes (Forms), Plate IX
Sheet: 16 1/2 x 25 3/4 in. (41.9 x 65.4 cm.)
Image: 16 x 22 13/16 in. (40.6 x 57.9 cm.)
1985.21.11
20. Le lagon (The Lagoon), Plate XVIII
Sheet: 16 5/8 x 25 9/16 in. (42.2 x 64.9 cm.)
Image: 16 x 24 1/8 in. (40.6 x 61.3 cm.)
1985.21.20
12. L’enterrement de Pierrot (Pierrot’s Funeral),
Plate X
Sheet (/Image): 16 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (42.2 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.12
21. Le lagon (The Lagoon), Plate XIX
Sheet (/Image): 16 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (42.2 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.21
5. Monsieur Loyal, Plate III
Sheet: 16 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (42.2 x 65.4 cm.)
Image: 16 5/8 x 12 3/4 in. (42.2 x 32.4 cm.)
1985.21.5
13. Les Codomas (The Codomas), Plate XI
Sheet (/Image): 16 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (42.2 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.13
6. Le cauchemar de l’éléphant blanc (The
Nightmare of the White Elephant), Plate IV
Sheet (/Image): 16 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. (42.5 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.6
14. La nageuse dans l’aquarium (The Swimmer in
the Aquarium), Plate XII
Sheet (/Image): 16 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (42.2 x 65.4 cm.)
1985.21.14
22. Le tobogan (The Toboggan), Plate XX
Sheet: 16 5/8 x 25 1/2 in. (42.2 x 64.8 cm.)
Image: 12 7/8 x 11 7/16 in. (32.7 x 29.1 cm.)
1985.21.22
23. Portfolio Cover
26 5/16 × 17 5/16 × 7/8 in. (66.8 × 44 × 2.2 cm.)
15. L’avaleur de sabres (The Sword Swallower),
Plate XIII
Sheet: 16 9/16 x 25 5/8 in. (42.1 x 65.1 cm.)
Image: 15 3/8 x 11 3/4 in. (39.1 x 29.8 cm.)
1985.21.15
entirelyunexpected
print club