Matisse, French Poetry and the Livre d’artiste (1)

Throughout his long and productive career, Matisse periodically refreshed his creative energies by turning from painting to drawing, sculpture and other forms of artistic expression. A great source of inspiration was poetic. The poetry or poetic prose Matisse loved was intimate, sensuous and personal. In his later years he developed the practice of reading poetry early each day before he raised a paint brush, pencil or etching needle. Matisse noted that poetry was like oxygen: "just as when you leap out of bed you fill your lungs with fresh air." This kept him young at heart.

In his lifetime he also produced more than a dozen illustrated books which were known as “livre d’artiste” (artist’s book), a specific type of illustrated book that became common in France around the turn of the century thanks to the pioneering efforts of Albert Skira and Tériade. These books were deluxe, limited editions, meant to be collected and admired as works of art, as well as, read.

His first book, Poésies, of 1932, included mythologically inspired images based on texts by Stéphane Mallarmé, while his Jazz of 1947, known for its brightly colored pochoirs, is widely considered one of the most important illustrated books of the modern period.

Poesies - Stephane Mallarme

Matisse took his first step in illustration when Swiss publisher Skira approached him in 1930 to illustrate the work Poésies, by 19th century French poet Stéphane Mallarmé. Matisse responded to Skira’s invitation with great enthusiasm and that summer, devoted most of his attention to the commission while he was residing in Paris. He made an enormous number of drawings for the project, in the end, 27 drawings were engraved which dipslay an elevated purity. He said that he used the extraordinary economy of the thin, engraved line with no shading whatsoever in order not to overpower the etherial quality of Mallarmé's poetry. Matisse’s etchings of Mallarmé’s poems are considered among his greatest works in the print medium.

Matisse's drawings are beguilingly simple images and some are among the artist's greatest works in the medium. Their beauty derives not only from grace of line but from the subtly suggested volumes perfectly positioned on the white page. The grace of the lilting lines are even more impressive becasue they were incised on metal plates, a process that demands great certainty and level pressure.

Each line is an ordered choice that describes its subject while simultaneously creating a satisfying independent shape. Le Cygne captures the bird that attacked Matisse's rowboat the day his son Pierre took that famous photo of him sketching swans in the Bois de Boulogne (see images above).

Black winds upon their march deployed as flags
Whipped them with cold unto the very flesh,
Hollowing furrows in their arms and legs.

Mallarmé
Le Guignon.

Ulysses - James Joyce

The illustration of james Joyce's Ulysses by Matisse may be o ne of the most suggestive collaborations in 20th-century literature. “It was a great idea to bring them together; celebrities of the same generation, of similar virtuosity”." The 26 beautiful full-page illustrations by Matisse accompany the text of Joyce’s Ulysses, including six soft-ground etchings with reproductions of the sketches on blue and yellow paper. There have been surprisingly few attempts to illustrate "Ulysses" and, even where they do exist, they do not appear to have elicited much critical approval.

The most notable illustrators have been Matisse, Saul Field and Richard Hamilton. “According to George Macy, who undertook this only American publication of Matisse’s illustrations, he asked the artist how many etchings the latter could provide for $5,000. The artist chose to take six subjects from Homer’s Odyssey. The preparatory drawings reproduced with the soft-ground etchings (Matisse’s only use of this medium) record the evolution of the figures from vigorous sketches to closely knit compositions.” Ulysses is one of the very few American livres de peintres issued before World War II. The prints were very well printed and are frequently included in books on Matisse and exhibitions of Matisse's works

Joyce himslef had an ambivalent attitude to those forms of art outside of literature. His confidence in his own abilities were such that he believed himself capable of surpassing, through the written word, all that could be achieved through music and the visual arts. And yet, he proudly displayed, and treasured, portraits of himself and his family, allowed Matisse to illustrate  Ulysses, and consorted with many in the Parisian artistic community.

Joyce was initially pleased that an artist of Matisse’s stature was to illustrate Ulysses. But after some consideration, he became worried that the Frenchman might not be familiar enough with the Irish terrain to do the job. He attempted to have a friend in Ireland send the artist an illustrated weekly from Dublin around 1904. When he discovered that Matisse had not even read the book, but instead depicted six episodes from Homer’s Odyssey, Joyce flew into a rage and refused to sign any more copies.

Poemes de Charles d'Orleans - Charles D'Orleans

Matisse often derived inspiration from French poetry, whether from contemporaries such as Aragon and Mallarmé or medieval poets like Charles d'Orléans (1394-1465). Charles d'Orléans, a member of the French royal family of Valois, has been called the father of French lyric poetry and reputedly the sender of the first valentine. The chief subject matter of his poetry was courtly love and separation, written in such a veiled way that the unknown woman could be one of, or a conflation of, his two wives, a mistress or the land of France itself.

From 1941 to 1944, Matisse dedicated conspicuous time and energy to book illustration. In late 1942 he selected the Poèmes de Charles d'Orléans for illustration and most of the work was completed during 1943 including the text of the poems in Matisse's own hand. Matisse had in mind the idea of a florilège (a literary garland) and the medieval nature of the poems is heightened by Matisse's alternating use of calligraphy framed by scrolls and decorative patterns of fleur-de-lis. The latter are probably derived from the backgrounds of fifteenth century tapestries and are a direct allusion to Charles d'Orléans as the fleur-de-lis formed part of the old royal arms of France.

Florilege des Amours de Ronsard - Pierre de Ronsard

In 1941, again for Skira, Matisse began one of his most complicated and successful printmaking projects, Florilège des Amours de Ronsard, illustrating the love poems of 16th century French Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard. Ronsard’s subject and strong imagery lent themselves gracefully to Matisse’s favored themes of fruits, flowers, the female form and portraits. The artist selected the poems himself and translated the work from Renaissance French to contemporary French for the publication of the anthology. It was a difficult time, however, as Matisse was recovering from a series of surgical procedures that left him wheelchair bound. Due to World War II and problems with printing, the project was not completed until 1948.

Matisse exercised full control over selection and interpretation of verses, page layout, paper quality, and typeface.He made several revisions during the seven-year interim, expanding the commission from 30 to 126 illustrations.

Perhaps, the loveliest prints are those that keep close to motifs Matisse knew by heart and for which he had an abiding fondness: botanical shapes, condensed female portraits, and favored studio objects - like the fluted vase or the tobacco jar - that migrated from painting to painting over the years.

Both the Poèmes de Charles d’Orléans and Florilège des Amours de Ronsard were discussed in depth with André Rouveyre, who was a knowledgeable bibliophile, expert on literature and close friend of Matisse. In the correspondence we can also follow how Rouveyre and Matisse collaborated on several publications, above all Rouveyre’s novel Repli and his Apollinaire.