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Art Since 1900: Il' Thames A Hudson
Art Since 1900: Il' Thames A Hudson
Art Since 1900: Il' Thames A Hudson
antimodernism
postmodernism
^ al foster
-csalin dkrau ss
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il' Thames
a Hudson
ignorrnc
1906 rvhattl.rc'
Their'
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P aul C6z a n n ed ie s a t A i x -en-P rov enc e Cdzat-ttlt
idiosyncratic, atomisticbrush-strokes(one color per stroke,each rvasfinallyturning out to be his bestpupil: Signacpurchascdlirxe, 6
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keptconspicuously discrete)were deemeda congruentcontribu- calmeet voluptdtl l, the major canvasthat N{atisse contpletedin
n$ tion consolidatingthe ban on the mixing of colors that had stiil Parisupon his returnfrom Saint-Tropez and exhibitedat the 1905
t( beenstandardpracticeduring Impressionism. SalondesInddper-rdants (whereboth van Gogh and Seurathad a
CL Matisse's6rst encounterwith Signac'sgospelwas premature. retrospective).Was it the idyllic subject n.tatterthat particularly
T'
Aftera trip to Londonin order to seeTurner'spaintings(on the seducedSignac-fir'e naked nymphs picnickingby the seashore
,t1l adviceof C6zanne's mentor, the old Camille Pissarro),he had under the eyesof a crouched,dressedMadameMatisseand those
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headedfor Corsica,wherehis art-then a murky and not-so-com- of a standingchild wrappedin a towel?Or wasit the title derived
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petentform of Impressionism-turned "epileptic,"ashe wrote in from C harl esB audel ai re (182l -67),a raredi rectl it er ar i'allusion
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a panicto a friend,upon his suddendiscoveryofsouthern light. In in Matisse's oeuvre?Whateverthe case,Signacchosenot to notice
lI,
tlre numerouspaintingshe completedin Corsicaand then in the hear,ry coloredcontourswrigglingall over the conrposititrnin
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Toulousein 1898and 1899,the feverishbrush,strokesare thick defianceof his syster.r.r.But when Matissesentlc Bonheurde t'it're
with impasto,and the colorsineluctablylosetheir intendedincan- to the Salondeslnd6pendants
nd of the subsequent 1'ear,Signacwas
ra
descence as the pastesmix directly on the canvas.The cardinal incensedby preciselysuch elementsin this canvas,and b1' the
axiomof Postimpressionism (of whater.erpersuasion), that one undividedflat planesofcolor. Bettveen thesetwo events,the Fauve
u,l
had to "organizeone'ssensation,"
s,. to use Cezanne,s celebrated scandalhad takenplaceat the infamous1905Salond'Automne.
phrase,cameto Matissevia
Signacpreciselyat this point. But his As the British critic, painter, and teacherLawrenceGowing
o:,.TP, at followingthe minute
proceduresrequiredbi, the divi- remarked,"Fauvisrnwas the best preparedof all the twentieth-
slonlstsvstem,during the
l,l: next few months, remainedfrustrating. centuryrevolutions."But oneshouldaddthat it rvasalsooneof the
Yetthisfailureexacerbated
his desireto comorehendthe wholeof shortest: it lastedbut a season.True,most of the Fauveshad known
P0stimpressionism (he notably purchased,"u.rul works by its
li: each other for yearsand had long considered the older Matisseas
masters-thena consicierable
)i: financialsacrificefor him-includ- thei rl eader(betw een 1895and 1896,A l bertMarque t11875- 19471,
utga smalfpainting
lr by Gauguin an<l,above all, C6zanne,sThree Henri Manguin [1874-1949],and CharlesCamoin u'erehis col-
t'athers,a paintingfrornthe mid-
ln. to late lg70sthat he would trea_ leagues in the studioof GustaveMoreau,the only oasisof fieedom
rurelikea talisman
bt tintil he donatedit to the city of parisin 1936). at the EcoledesBeaux-Arts, andn'henhe switchedto the Acaddmie
il
with these few works and never n.rissinga post- CarridreafterMoreau'sdeathin 1898,he met Andrd Derain,who
,_!lnult,,lt
lmpressionist show constituted the major part
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of Matisse,s sooni ntroducedhi m to Mauri cede V l arni nck11876- 1958]But ).
educationprior to his
lr' :{Ttt, secondbout of divisionism.He the initial spark can be traced to Matisse'svisit to Vlaminck's
ile tj:.t't:lerstood that despitemajor differencesin their art, studio,at Derain'surging,in February1905.Matissehad thenjust
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finished Luxe, cahneet voluptd,of which he was rightfully proud, lar, paintedshortly after his return from Collioure-provoked thi
but now he felt unsettledby the coloristicviolenceof Vlaminck's crowd's hilarity as no work had done sincethe public display
production.It would takehim the wholesummer,which he spent Manet'sOlympiain 1863,and nervsthat this infamouspainting
ivith Derainin Collioure,closeto the Spanishborder,to get over been purchased(by Gertrudeand Leo Stein) did not calm
^
Vlaminck'sjejuneaudacity.Spurredby Derain'spresence, and by sarcasmof the press.Not only did Matisse'sassociates benefitfroru
the visit they paid togetherto a trove of Gauguin'sworks, he his sr-rdden
fame,but the ideathat he wasthe headof ir new schoolof
paintednonstopfbr tbr.rrconsecutive months.The resultsof this painting crystallized,and indeed hjs art was ernulated(the initial:
strikinglyproductivecampaignwere the key rvclrksof what was Fauves weresoonjoinedby otherssuchasRaoulDufi' [1977-1953],
soonto be calledFauvism. Othon Fri esz[1879-1949],
K eesvan D ongen l l 3 77- 19681and
Upon seeingthe academicn-rarblesof a now long-tbrgottensculp- r momentarily,GeorgesBraque[1882-1963]). But whilehis acollq
tor in the middle of the room wherethe work of Nlatisseand his with tl-reexceptionof Braque,got foreverstuck in the exploitation
tl'iendsDerarin,Vlaminck, Camoin, Manguin, and Marquet was (and banalization)of the pictoriallanguageinventeddurir.rg
exhibitedat the 1905Salond'Autorr-rne,
a criticexclirimed"Donatello summerof 1905,for Matissethe Collioureexplosionhadbeenonl9
chczles fauvesl"("Donatelloamong the wild beasts!"). The label a beginning:it markedthe moment when he finally achieved
5't,sli-perhaps the most celebrated
baptismalepisodeof r.ur,entieth-synthesisof the four trendsof Postirnpressionism that had capti-
tlrr"LuTart-ilt large part becausethe uproar lvas ci-rnsiderable.vatedhirn, ancllaiclthe
ground fitr his owr.rs,vstem,
rvhosefirst fulF
\i:rii:se'sFauvecanvases-7'he Wontanwith theHot l2l in particr.r- fledgedpictorialrnanifestation
wouldbe LeBonhetn-de vivre.
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Salon,and yet it is iessaggressive than the others,and more trans- drawing,he had beencomplainingto Signacthat in his rvork,and
parentabout its procedures:it is particularly'n Luxe,cttlnrcet volupt(,so cherishedbv the older
easyto sort out the pairs of
complementary colorsthat structureit, makeit vibrateand visually artist,the two componentsweresplit and evencontradictingeacl-r
expand,andthat orderour gaze
neverto stop at any givenpoint. other.Now, tl-rroughhis equation"qualitv- quantity,"ashe often
Shortlvafter the Fauve salon,
Matisse,reflectingupon his irut it, he understoodwhy for Cdzannethe traditionalopposition
achievement of the past few months, stumbled upon an axlom betweencolor and drarvingwas necessarily annulled:sinceany
thatwouldremain
onehis guidelines ali his life.It canbe summa_ singlecolor can be modulatedby a mere changeof proportiol.t,
the statement, ,,o;.
;;;; ;;;; or any blLreis not any divisionof a plair-rsurfaceis in itself a coloristicprocedure.
"':1or
as blueasa squaremeter
of the sameblue,,,and indeed,speaking "What countsmost with colorsarerelationships. Thanksto them
aboutthe red planes
of hrsInterior at Collioure(The Siesttt)tron and therr alonea drawir.rgcan be intenselycoloredwithout there
Matissewould marvel at the fact that, although they being any needfor actualcoior," wrote Matisse.In fact,it is very
i^ -1nol*l
tooked to be ofa differenthue,
they had all beenpaintedstraight probable that Matissemade this discoveryabout color while
outof thesame
tube.Discovering u'oodcutsin the beginning
that color relationsareaboveall rvorkingon a seriesof black-and-white
relationswasa ma;or step.Struckby a statement of 1906, and then set himself up to apply or to verif it in
fltt-guuntity
t]" t.a. .i"r, rhefoundatio,rur u,riiy"lt: .:t:;' ;;; LeB onheurdevi vre[51.
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5 . Henri Matisse, Le Bon heur de vivre (The Joy of Life), I 906
O I o n c a n v as 1 74 x 2 1 0 i 6 8 ,'. x 94t|r )
kissingin the fbregr ound, two bodies-olle of indetcrntinatesex- R oger Benj am i n M atr s s es 'l i ol es c f aPantl et C ti ttc s r r tT ttea'/ ar ,dC )a t i i e x1! d 9 1 , 1 9 A 8
psvchoanahtic interpretationof the painting as a phantasmatic Pre:rs 19901and On l\y'ai,sseThe B rfdlfg Octobe/ no 68. Sprifg 1994
Judi Freeman (ed.),Ihe farve lai rds.rape{NewYorkrAblrevre Pr-.ss 1990)
\crcen,a polysernicimage conjuring up a scriesof contradictory R i c har dShi ff N 4i i r KN l oi f l ,y 'ater al tv r T heC ez ar neF i i ec tr ntl r - .T '/r 'e f t e t h O e f t u ry
n Fe l x
sexualdrivescorresponding to the polymorphousinfantilesexuality Baulnannei a. Cezanne Ftnt..lt-.d,/U/rfr)si
re.Jiosll ldern Fllt f atl-.Ca,rtzVeriall 20001
(narcissism' auto-eroticism,
sadism,exhibi- Margaret Werth. EnqendernglrnagrnaryN4ode.nlsmHef r lu4atrss€ de //vre '
-cBon/,.err/
thatl-reuduncovered
Ger der s r o 9 Aui ur nn1990
tionisrn)-a that
catalog revolves around the Oedipuscompiexand
c as t r ati oann x i e ty .
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Salond'Autornne,the annualshowcase for contemporaryart estab-
for a wholemonth he wasunabieto sleepor {c(
lishedsevenyearsearlier(his solesupporterwasthe poetGuillaume for Suain.where
There,he receivedShchukir-r's latestcommissionfor two still \rt
r Apollinaire,fbr rvhom he felt no sympathy).By then he wasusedto
(rvhichwould be very handsornely paid), as well asthe news nl
sr.rch turmoil surroundinghis work, to someextenteventhriVingon
hit him hard' Not only did it DanceII and Masichad arrived in Moscow ("I hopeto
saf'ely L).1
it; but this time the hostileconsensus
Shchukinrvrote). /i
catch Matisseat a moment when he lvas particularlyfragile (his to like them one dav,"
Rather than taming his style for the nerv comnlission,Mat
fatherhad died a dayafterhis return to Paris),it alsohad an immedi-
true "all or nothing"-in carrvingone
ate effecton his most collrageousand faithful patron, the Russian took a hugegamble-a A
namely the decorativeprofusion that
collector SergeiShchukin,who had commissionedthe two large featuresto the extreme,
paintings and had been enthusiasticallyfollowing their progress characterized many of his works from the previousvears,such
which alreadybelongedto Shchukitt"
from atar. Shchukin arrived in Paris in the midst of this public the 1908 Harmony in Rerl,
(rvhich was very far tiom beingthe
uproar, and, balking, decidedat the eleventhhour not to accept As if he had nothing to lose
case),Nlatisseref'used to retreattoward the neoclassical conceptlon
them. (Addingto Matisse'sinjury, his dealersborrowedhis studioto
represented by Puvis:it is asifhe rvarninghis
rr'ere
displaythe rvork they had convincedShchukinto purchaseinstead, ofthe decorative
patron-lvho had suddenlv become worried about the nudityot
the largegri-saille sketchfor a mural by Puvisde Chavannes')
rvhatwii: calledat the
Feelir-rgguilty on his u'ay back to Moscolv, Shchukin sent a the figurestn DartceII and Mrtslc,and about
a still lite could be justas
telegramrescindinghis decisionand askingfot DanceII and Mtrsic time their "Dionysian" character-that
to be shippedat greatspeed,follorvedby a lettercancelingthe pur- visuallydisquieting. One couldevenarguethat' in proposingSevilld
welkness' StillLife and spttnishStillLtJ-e to Shchukinimr.r-rediatell' afterthetwo
chaseof the Puvisanclapologizingfor his n.romentary
hard to slvallow'Nlattss€'"
Tl.reimntediateclangerof the end of Shchukin'ssLlpportlvas panelsthe Russiancollectorhad found so
\"{ullingover wasdeliberatelyalternating between tlvo modes-one austere'one
arverted, but ltlatissewasshakenby theseabout-faces.
sidesof the
tl.refickleness of collectorsand the treachervof art dealers,he lefi swarming-as if to dernonstratethat they rveretwo
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samecoin.The prior holdingsof the ShchukinCollectionsuggest sobrietyof this largecomposition.But this differencedwindles
thatthismighthavebeena consistentstrategyon the part of Matisse onceactualscaleis takeninto consideration. For rvhenconfronted
i ork {compare the sparse1908Gameof BowLsand the 1909Nymph and with Muslc'sone hundred-plussquarefcetof saturatedcolor,and
lift' .ktyrwith Harmonyin Red,boughtshortlybeforethe still-lifecom- its friezeof five musiciansevenlydistributedon the surface,once
thll mission);and Shchukin'ssubsequentpurchasesfollowedthe same againone stumblesupon an aporiaof perception:eitherone tries
'onk pa[ern (comparethe austerel9l2 Conversatiotlwithl/rc painter's of
the figuresone by one but cannotdtt so because
to contemplate
Familyor ThePink Stuclio
of 1911, bought at the sametime ). the sheercoloristicsutrmons of the rest of the canvasior, con-
Itli{t versely,one attemptsto take in the vast surfaceat a glancebut
ofit' An*aesthetic
of blindinq,, cannot prevent the optical vibrations that are causedb,'-the
: l'u( figures'vermilion forms as they clashwith the blue-ar.rd-green
ch,t' Hath.,Sa,i/leSrillLife andSpanisltStill Lifearedifficult to behold- ground from deflectingour graspof the visualfield. Figureand
ukin thatis, the viewercannot
gazeat their pullulating arabesques and ground constantlyannul eachother in a crescendo of energies-
o thi colorflashes for verylong.As had alreadvhappenedin Le Bonltettr that is,theveryoppositior.r
a upon whichhumat.rperceptior-r isbased
tf-t-*
- but now m uch m o re s o , th e s ep a i n ti n g s
ltit1f a p p e arl o spl n is deliberatelydestabilized-and our vision ends up blurred'
,nhii beforetheel/e;
nothingthereeverseemsto come to rest.Flowers, blindedbv excess.
t) ii. pots pop up like bubbles
that dissolveinto their busy, This "aesthetic of blinding"wasalreadyin placein 1906-it was
::t:'*.d
It th Ua.ct<ground as quickly as one managesto isolatethem. the resultof Matisse's
ffjlf8 complexnegotiations, during the heydal'of
rne centrality
lsti' of the figure is dismantled:the vierverfeelscom- rFauvism, rvith the iegacyof Postin-rpressionism. But it assumeda
a lookat . , . r y n h ,n g
'rrilji Tl l " a t o n c e ,
a t th e w h o l ev i s u a l
fi but
etd, new urgency around 1908, at which Matisse
tin-re reflectedupon it
et$, 'r mf $ametime feclsforcedto rely on peripheral
lheltpense vision to do so,at in his famous "Notes of a Painter,"one of the most articulateartis-
.rtijii of controloverthat very
field. of the trventiethcentury.There,amongotherthings,
tic n.ranifestos
, rtlF
this turbulencewith Music the diffractionof the gazethat he rv.isaimingfor as
,f th' o.'';; ;;;;; J;. ;,ffi';i,,il:'lil':;:
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T,5T"",0
t3t. At first sight Matisse defined
the coreof his conceptof expressiot.t: "Expressitln,fbr me,doesl.tot
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3. HenriM a t i s s e M
, u s i c ,1 9 10
O on c an v a s2 6 0 x 3 B g( 1 0 1' , x 1 5 3 1 1 ,)
residein passionsglowing in a human faceor manifestedby a to the traditionalregimeof mimetic identificationwasno longer
violent movement. The entire arrangementof my picture is available option (on thispoint he wasconcurringwith Picasso).
expressive:the placeoccupiedby the figures,the empty spaces pi cturei s not the depi cti onol a bucol i cscene,nor is it an a
around them, the proportions,everl,thinghasits share."In other What are thesehuge creaturesdoing, feedinga turtle they do
rvords,ashe would keepsayingall his life, "expressionand decora- evenlook at?We cannotunderstandthe motive of their action
tion areoneand the samethine." more than they seemable to communicateit among them
The spectatoris left to ponder over the enigmatic"expression"
the standingnudeor that ofher seatedneighbor.But no clueis
M a t i ssea n swe r sthe youngerP icasso
by their surroundings.For the frrsttime in Matisse'swork the
Many factorscontributedto the suddenacceleration of Matisse's is reduced to modulated bands of plain color. as in Bvza
art and theoreticalsophisticationin 1908.One of them, perhaps mosaics:greenfor the grass,blue for the water,blue-greenfor
the most important,washis competitionwith Picasso.In the fall sombersky-a cipherof a landscape, frontally facingus.This is
rof 1907he had seenles Demoiselles d'Avignon,Picasso'sdirect uninhabitableworld, into which we arenot invited.
. answerto both his Le Bonheurde yiyreand his Blue Nucle.The Shchukinhad perceivedthe profoundmelancholyof this
paintinghad madeMatisseuneasy)in part becauseit had carried and,saddened that it had beensold to anothercollector,he
primitivismfurtherthan any of his own previousattempts,and he Matissefor a substitute.That rvasto be Gameof Bou,Is,a far
hadto respond. powerfulpainting,but indicativeof the directionMatisse's
His first reply was the largeBatherswith a Turtle [4], one of his
rvasto take.The "landscaDe" is asbareas in Batherswith a T
barestand eeriestcanvases (the primitivism of the central,standing
(though the color spectrumis much lighter), but now
nude has beennoted by all commentators). CounteringPicasso's rhyhrns set the compositionin motion (the three dark-h
'\{edusa effect,"\{atisse
turned the glareof his giant nuclesaway headsof the plaversbeing ironicall,vechoedby their three
1t'omfhg beholder-but not without signalingthat a simpleretreat bowls). There are no mvsteriousexpressions here:the d
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tance,but it would not havehad suchan impactif it had not beenfor role in his production at severalkey momentsof his career,mo$
the ample scaleof the works (not only are they largebut also the notably when his rivalry with Picassolvas at st.rke.One such
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nuntber of elementsthey displayare reduced:in eachcanvasthere moment wasrvhenhe wastrying to learn the languageof Cubism'
are only frve figuresof the same"lobster" color, as lvassaid at the from 1913to i9l7 (after which he retreatedto Nice and into
it
time, and tlvo backgroundzones-blue for the skyand greenfor the Impressionism until 1931,w'henthe conjoinedcommissious of an
land). In fact,the coloristicimpactof Dance11and Muslc which ilh.rstratedMallarmd book ancl that of a mural on the theme of P
of r(
remainedunequriledin painting until the large canvasesof Mtrrk Dancefor the BarnesFoundationled him backto the aesthetics
tr
r Rothkoand BarnettNewmanin the lateforties,provicledthe clearest his youth). From Matisse's"Cubist" yearsclateworkssuchas Frenth
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confirmation of Matisse'sprinciple accordingto which "a square Winrlowin Collioure (19 I 4 ) or TheYellowCurt(litI ( c. I 9 I 5), sostrik'
b,
centimeterof blueis lessbluethana squaremeterof thesameblue." ingly similar, once again,to works by Rothko or Newman,or lllr
i(
But if the arrticlassical decenterednessof these works was B IueW i ndow(1913)and TheP i anoLesson (191 6) whose, onein(
perceivedas a threat,trnd criticizedin Musicevenmore than in r atmosphere poetAndr6Bretonfound soappeaiing'
theSurrealist
DattceII, it is alsobecause
r'viththem Matissefinailvfound a means The'"vorksimrlecliatelyfbllowing DanceIl and Mlrslc,however'
to emnlate properlv, though rvith different means, Picasso's swr-rng in the otherdirection.After the ttvo "nervoLts" Spanish sril
. irpotropaic stancein LesDemoiselles Althoughit isjust as litescan-re
cl'Avignon. the famouslargeinteriors of I 911, The Rc,lSttt,lio'[rrterttt.t
btrreas Music,Donce11partakesin the rrrofirsemode of Matisse's x,ith Eggplants16l, The Pink Sntlb, and The Ptrhter's Fatnttv
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u*:*{r esrwss.Z1Zx 246 (BZ.L g6.i,)
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and Hts,4d /8e9 79/8 ithace N.Y and Londof: Corfe Llnversly
thatcotoristicaily Press 1986t
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AlastairWright. Archetectures["4atsseandthe rta 84 Spfr,g 1998