Go to the de Young's site for tickets and images. Show up until 6 July, 2025.
In the final decades of a prolific career, modern artist Henri Matisse (1869–1954) took up book illustration. This exhibition celebrates our 2024 acquisition of Jazz, Matisse’s 1947 artist book on the circus and theater. Jazz includes 20 color stencil prints (pochoirs) of popular subjects on these themes, from horses to ringmasters. The prints were created using the artist’s lively paper cutouts, what Matisse called “drawing with scissors.” Published by the innovative Greek publisher Tériade (Stratis Eleftheriadis), it is considered the pinnacle of Matisse’s graphic art. This presentation offers the rare chance to see the unbound works from Jazz in conversation with other Matisse artist books from our collection.
About the First Plate: Le Clown
Using abstracted forms, Matisse begins Jazz with a motif that was popular in nineteenth-century European and American visual culture: a clown standing on a stage, enticing passersby to enter the circus. Above and below the figure, the white lines that stand out boldly against the vibrant blue could reference people in a crowd or lights illuminating the stage. The serpentine black shape against an electric-yellow backdrop might stand as a banner advertising the performance.
For more details on this book, check out Art Gallery NSW's photos and specs.