Introduction
Eighty yearsago, in 1924, an adventuroustwenty-four-year-old
The Museum of Modern Art had just opened in
young man arrivedon these shores from France. Somewhat
this bravenew world for modern art Pierre Matisse made his
of an artisthimself-and a formerstudentof the violin and of
mark showing works by establishedEuropeanartists, such as
painting-he had decided to become an art dealer.As Pierre
Matisse was the second son of the artist Henri Matisse, he
Gromaire,Derain, Pascin, and Rouault. Pierre found his true
came with connections as well as his luggage.Indeed, it was
WalterPach,artist and critic,who took Pierreunder his wing
such as Mir6 and Balthus, in 1932 and 1938, respectively.
He forged close relationshipswith both, as he also would do
and introduced him to the handful of art galleries then in
with Giacometti and Dubuffet later, in 1946 and in 1948. He
New York.
was the first to show the works of these then-unknown,and
Although shy and reserved, Pierre was a quick study.
The following year he mounted an exhibition of his father's
now well-known,artists in this country.Over decades Pierre
prints and drawingsat the bookshop cum galleryof Eberhard
Weyhe on Lexington Avenue.Pierre then spent severalyears
the United States,and Canada,sculptorsfrom England,and a
gaining experienceby going into partnershipwith Valentine
Dudensing, a dealer of modern European art. Finally, in
October 1931,Pierreset up shop in two tiny rooms on the sev-
1929,
and in
vocation,however,when he began championingyoungerartists
expandedhis focus to representpaintersfrom Latin America,
still-youngergenerationof artistsfrom Franceand Spain.
Pierre gave as much careto the installationsof his exhibitions as he did to the layouts of his elegant, slim catalogues.
He asked writers such as Sartre,Breton, and Camus to con-
enteenth floor of the Fuller Building on 57th Street. At first,
tribute forewords.From the beginning Pierre kept very pre-
as John Russell wrote in 1989, "Visitorswerefew, and initially
cise books, recordingin big accountingledgersthe movements
he was often too shy even to speak to them."Gradually,his
businessgrew,and in 1947 Pierremoved in the FullerBuilding
of all the works that passed through his gallery.As meticu-
to quarterson the fourth floor, where he remained for the
next forty-two years,until his death in i989.
PierreMatisse had two outstandingqualities,tenacity and
lously kept were the individual files of his artists, holding
such valuablematerials as clippings of articles and reviews,
letters, drawings, notes, and photographs. Among the treasures of this archive is the voluminous correspondence
steadfastness.Both served him well in the early years of the
gallery,which coincided with the depth of the Depression.
between Pierre and Henri Matisse from 19I9 to 1954. John
The study of recent art was then in its infancy in New York.
and son. Thanks to these letters the myth that Henri Matisse
Russell cited these letters in his recent book (1999) on father
did not want his son to be a dealer and would not support
him-invented and upheld by Pierre throughout his life-
Pierreand Maria-Gaetana
Matissein New York,late i986.
Opposite:
Hans
Namuth
for
Connaissance
desArts,FebruaryI987.
Photographby
All photographsin the Introductionexceptpage7 courtesyof the
Pierreand Maria-Gaetana
MatisseFoundation,New York
was disproved.These files grew into a formidable archive
during the nearlysix decades of the gallery'slife span.
With Pierre'sdeath in I989 the gallery ceased to exist, but
5
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INTRODUCTION
Pierre Matisse sitting for Alberto
Giacometti in the artist's studio in
Paris, ca. 1949. Photograph by
Patricia Matisse
Pierre Matisse and Joan
Miro in the artist's
studio in Palma de
Mallorca, ca. 1968.
Photograph by Patricia
Matisse(?)
6
INTRODUCTION
its spirit remainedalive in its archive.So
that it would be accessible to scholars
Each morning the Matisses would
walk from the house on East 64th
and students, his widow, Tana (born
Street the few blocks to the Fuller
Countess Maria-Gaetana von Spreti),
and his three children by his second
Building on 57th Street. Pierre carried
in a special bag Tana'slittle white dog
wife, Alexina Sattler (she subsequently
married Marcel Duchamp), established
that kept them company throughout
the day. Tana not only watched over
the Pierre Matisse Foundation, which
Pierre at home, particularlyhis diet, but
gave the gallery archiveto the Pierpont
also protected him at the gallery from
Morgan Library in 1997.
the ubiquitous graduatestudents.
Tana joined the Pierre Matisse
After Pierre's death Tana Matisse
Gallery in 1972, the year Pierre became
establishedher own philanthropicplans.
a widower after the sudden death of his
Among them was the long project of
organizingthe vast galleryarchiveat the
third wife, Patricia O'Connell Kane.
Tana soon became as indispensable as
an office manageras she was to Pierre's
Maria-Gaetana Matisse in Beijing, October
I997. Photograph by Deborah Gage
private life. They married in i974. Young, cultured, and
refined,Tana brought into his life optimism and youth, both
her own and that of her circle of internationalfriends.Tana's
Pierre Matisse Foundation, which, in
1995, became the Pierre and Maria-
GaetanaMatisse Foundation. She supported art institutions
and charities, and lent generously to exhibitions of former
gallery artists' works from the collection at 64th Street.
diplomat father had been killed on his post in Guatamalain
1971,and Pierre became her anchor. He also offered her a
As before, she opened the house to artists, museum profes-
stimulating life in New York and Europe, where she accompanied him on his regularrounds of visits to his artists each
April
summer.She befriendedBalthus,Chagall,and Mir6, and also
works of art from that haven have now found their way,
thanks to the Trustees of the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana
the younger generation of Pierre's artists, such as Francois
Rouan, ZaoWou-ki, and Raymond Mason. It was her felici-
sionals, collectors, and friends. With her sudden death in
2001,
this haven of art and culture on 64th Street
ceased to exist. It is somewhat of a consolation that the
tous idea to ask Federico Fellini to write the forewordto the
Foundation, into The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where
they can be sharedwith scholarsand students and appreciated
catalogue of the Balthus exhibition in 1977.
by the public.
SR
7