The Unknown Matisse: A Life of Henri Matisse Volume One Book

We know all about the lives of the two great titans of modern art, don't we? Picasso was the wild one and Matisse was the boring one. Wrong. Picasso was wild all right, but the Matisse that emerges from Hilary Spurling's magnificent new biography is nothing like the buttoned-up and self-regarding clerk of popular perception. This is a man who horrified his bourgeois family by becoming an artist in the first place, fathered children out of wedlock, and pursued his radical artistic visions with a fierce and destructive intensity. Spurling tells a fascinating story which includes a genuine art historical scoop in uncovering the reason for Matisse's so-called Dark Period of 1902-1904. Art historians have long commented on how his artistic development stalled during this time, but Spurling convincingly reveals that his family had been severely affected by a financial fraud and he was obliged to make more saleable paintings. Ironically, he actually achieved financial success when he boldly went against convention and let rip his passion for colour. Matisse may have worn gold-rimmed spectacles and a suit, but it was the emotional and artistic turmoil underneath the placid surface that was transferred to his canvas. "I always worked like a drunken brute", he recalled, "trying to kick the door down." --Nick WroeRead More