This book offers an in-depth view of this central motif, through which Matisse developed and continually explored his rich and imaginative repertoire of forms and colors. It features outstanding paintings from all of his creative periods, supplemented by ensembles of his bronze sculptures, his intricate drawings, and his cutouts and prints.

No other subject inspired Henri Matisse (1869--1954) with such passion throughout his career as the female figure in indoor settings. Many of his interiors focus on women  reading, day-dreanaing, or sleeping, posing in the artist's studio, or odalisques lounging among Oriental decor.

This book offers an in-depth view of this central motif, through which Matisse developed and continually explored his rich and imaginative repertoire of forms and colors. It features outstanding paintings from all of his creative periods, supplemented by ensembles of his bronze sculptures, his intricate drawings, and his cutouts and prints. Historical photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassai, Helene Adant, and others show how leading art photographers saw Matisse's models and artfully designed studio interiors. A biography completes this presentation.

ARMIN ZWEITE · PIA MULLER-TAMM

  Foreword and Acknowledgments

PIA MULLER-TAMM

  Henri Matisse: Figure, Color, Space

MARGRET STUFFMANN

  Henri Matisse: Drawing  Without End

KATHARINA SYKORA

  Looking through the Window:

  Threshold Space and Femininity in Henri Matisse's "Rooms with a View"

BEATE  SONTGEN

  With Downcast Eyes: Figures of Reading in the Work of Henri Matisse

PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES, DRAWINGS.

PRINTS, PAPER CUTOUTS

  with explanatory texts by MELANIE HORST and MARIA MULLER

GOTTFRIED BOEHM

  Expression and Decoration: Henri Matisse in Quest of Himself

REMI LABRUSSE

  The End of the Image Cult:

  Some Remarks on the "Symphonic Interiors"(1911)

STEFAN GROHE

  Body Control: Matisse the Painter Quotes Matisse the Sculptor

ISABELLE MONOD-FONTAINE

  Figure decorative or, A Studio Painting

PETER KROPMANNS

  Henri, Marianne, and Germania:

  Matisse between the Fronts of French and German Art

KATHARINA SYKORA

  At Second Glance: Henri Matisse and Photography

PHOTOGRAPHS

Biography

List of Works

Bibliography