Henri Matisse collected objects and placed them as actors centre-stage and in the wings in the dramas of his still life images.
He used cut out shapes to position his players and the cut outs themselves became art.
He spent a year searching for a Venetian carved wood chair and was delighted with his find.
These six last images include a couple of illicit photographs, and scans of post cards and illustrations in the book accompanying the exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, “Matisse in the studio“. I love the simple lininess in the third and last of these illustrations and the simple blockiness of the cut-outs and just the idea of exploring the relationships between the contents of a studio full of things.
kestrelart 
Oh yes, isn’t that chair spectacular? My daughter and I could not believe how wonderful! We saw the show when it was in Boston. (K)
I thought of your collages, looking at his cut out images.
Well of course I loved those too!
So great, the first looks just like the Arumbaya fetish from Tintin! Spectacular drawings, wonderful.
I see what you mean. But in fact these were created by Matisse himself, but of course heavily influenced by ethnographic material.
Ah no! So you see what an opinion of your art I do actually have.
As I guess you realise, the sculpture is Matisse’s, the sketch of it is mine. Matisse is fascinating as an artist. Such a broad range of work. Some is deceptively simple. But art must have felt totally immersive for him.
That’s how I understood it in the first place. Then I got confused… Oh yes, totally true. I too believe should be creative in his style as well as in his art itself
Lovely drawings, I especially like the mask. I am getting a different perspective on still life now I am trying to do it for the 40 day drawing challenge. Very hard.
I used to think still life dull. I am changing my mind too.
I like these. Matisse and Picasso had a very interesting relationship, friends and rivals. I saw an amazing piece by Matisse at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. It was a small, briefcase size, suitcase which opened out into many individual tiny pieces of art. It fascinated me.
Now that’s an exhibition I would love to see!