By Antoine du Rocher
NEW YORK, 11 OCTOBER 2005—Hilary Spurling's second volume of her biography of Henri Matisse
is a distinguished achievement for its meticulous research as well as its
narrative skill. The earlier volume, The Unknown Matisse
examined his life and work up until his Fauve paintings of the beginning of
the 20th century.
The second volume covers the remainder of
Matisse's life. The experimental period from 1909 through World War I
gives way to the Nice paintings of the 1920s and 1930s, the haunting
self-doubt and disturbing misgivings and accusations of fraud by his
colleagues. Then the famous paper cut-outs, the family traumas and
Resistance activities of the Second World War are, finally, followed by
recognition for Matisse's unique and sensual exploration of colour and
light, a period which lasted until the end of his life in his studio at
Cimiez in 1954.
Thanks to the Matisse archives of
family correspondence, Spurling is particularly adept in her evocation of
Matisse's character and family life, notably in the elucidation of the
life-long complicity and its rough edges with his wife Amélie—mostly due
to the incessant, and often baseless, speculation about Matisse's
relationship with his models. And her account leaves little room for doubt
that, while Matisse doted on his family, painting came first, and his
wife, often-ill daughter Marguérite, and two sons Pierre and Jean were all
enlisted in the family firm of Matisse Inc.
satisfying is Spurling's depiction of Matisse's relationship with
exotic locales, foreign collectors, theorists and supporters, the art
market and the French painter's love of music.
cognizant of Matisse's aestheic concerns and the development of modernism,
Spurling writes as a biographer rather than an art historian. The result
is a strong narrative without maudlin sentiment that effortlessly engages
the reader's attention from the first page to the last.
Matisse the Master : A Life of Henri
Matisse: The Conquest of Colour: 1909-1954
Hardcover 544 pages
Alfred Knopf, New York (6
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Antoine du Rocher is managing editor of Culturekiosque.com