Matisse, Voyages

Visual Arts Curated Video/DVD Collection


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Matisse, Voyages - Currently Unavailable

Focuses on the evolution of the style of French painter, sculptor, and printmaker Henri Matisse (1869-1954) as a result of his travels. Documents his first sojourn in Collioure, France, in 1905, where contact with the Fauves inspired him to use bright colors in his paintings. Includes extracts from Matisse's 1908 publication Notes of a Painter. Examines the earthly paradise represented in his work as a result of his stays in Tangiers during the winters of 1911-1913. Shows the comfort and idleness that he discovered in his years in Nice from 1918 on. Assesses the impact of his visits to Tahiti and the United States in 1930. American painter Frank Stella discusses the techniques used by Matisse and their influence on subsequent artists, including Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock. Scenes of locales visited by Matisse are intercut with paintings they inspired. Also incorporates period photographs and scenes from Jean Vigo's 1929 film A PROPOS DE NICE, F.W. Murnau and Robert Flaherty's 1933 film TABU, and footage from a 1945 documentary about Matisse by François Campaux.

Curator's Comments: Outstanding production. Art is shown exceptionally well--superb color (shot in 35mm). Effective use of footage from Vigo's film which was made about the same time that Matisse was painting in Nice. The self-reflexive commentary about the difficulties of faithfully reproducing on film the colors of paintings, emphasized by the recurring insertion of a color chart into the frame, is a rather precious device but for the most part it does not detract from the art.

DATE: 1988

COUNTRY: France

CREDITS:
Director: Didier Baussy
Producing Agency: DB Films; RM Arts; La Sept; Centre Georges Pompidou

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
58 minutes Color

TOPICS:
Color
Painting--Modernist

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