The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions: Matisse: The Fabric of DreamsHis Art and His Textiles

Henri Matisse Show at the Metropolitian Museum



"The impact of Henri Matisse's lifelong interest in textiles is shown in a selection of approximately 75 paintings, drawings, prints, and painted paper cutouts. Also exhibited are examples from the artist's personal collection of textiles, many of which have been packed away in family trunks since Matisse's death in 1954."

I went to the Metropolitian Museum today, for a change, and tried to get away from my SEO work, and back to my artist beginnings. I looked closely at the Watteu's, Rembrants, Cezanne and Manet paintings and the Matisse Textile show.

I really enjoyed the Matisse show and it got me to thinking about how he progressed; I found his early work and middle body of work very satisfying but his later work, much less so. After 1930, there were examples of paintings that had taken several sessions, but looked like they were done in a couple of minutes, much like a sketch.

What's wrong with that? We'll, I think there is something that I don't feel comfortable with, and never have. As an artist evolves, the work through ideas and eventually evolve out of their artform! I belive that's what happened to Matisse; he evolved from a Lawyer to a Artist/painter and eventually became a textile artist! Sure, that's an oversimplifaction, but the same process happened to Picasso, and to many, many artists, even old masters, like Titian.

After you work though an idea, over and over again, we move on to the next thing; and that "thing" might not be as visible as the perfection we achived before. Titian's later works look sloppy; yet the are considered the apex of his art. Rembrant the same, Renoir is the same and Matisse certainly showed that..at least, that's how I view it.

The later works are simply not satisfying, they look like sribbles, however art historians talk about it.