Matisse's trip to Tahiti.
Snoeck| N° d'inventaire | 18725 |
| Format | 20 x 26 |
| Détails | 104 p. Color and black and white illustrations. Hardcover with dust jacket. |
| Publication | Méru, 2014 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
During the 19th century, Méru maintained commercial relations with Tahiti, essentially based on the mother-of-pearl trade, which contributed to the economic growth of both sites. At the end of this century, Tahiti, geographically and culturally distant from the most important metropolises, appeared to a Europe conquered by modernity, as the unprecedented image of a paradise on earth. Matisse left for Tahiti in 1930. For three months, the artist visited several islands of the Tuamotu, Apataki and Fakarava. There he discovered new lights and new forms that he would continue to infuse until the end of his life. Even if, by his own admission, the memories of his Polynesian trip only returned to him fifteen years later, the works produced upon his return already reveal the considerable impact that his way of "immersing himself in things" would have on the rest of his work. From 1931, Matisse's experiences in Polynesian lagoons were manifested in the illustrations for Mallarmé's Poems, where the line, like the unfolding of plants, softens and curls to better reveal the white. In this respect, these drawings, along with those of Ronsard, constitute an essential step in the artist's desire to extract the quintessence of things, an approach that he would concretize in Jazz and, in a striking manner, in the paper cutouts of the mid-1940s.
During the 19th century, Méru maintained commercial relations with Tahiti, essentially based on the mother-of-pearl trade, which contributed to the economic growth of both sites. At the end of this century, Tahiti, geographically and culturally distant from the most important metropolises, appeared to a Europe conquered by modernity, as the unprecedented image of a paradise on earth. Matisse left for Tahiti in 1930. For three months, the artist visited several islands of the Tuamotu, Apataki and Fakarava. There he discovered new lights and new forms that he would continue to infuse until the end of his life. Even if, by his own admission, the memories of his Polynesian trip only returned to him fifteen years later, the works produced upon his return already reveal the considerable impact that his way of "immersing himself in things" would have on the rest of his work. From 1931, Matisse's experiences in Polynesian lagoons were manifested in the illustrations for Mallarmé's Poems, where the line, like the unfolding of plants, softens and curls to better reveal the white. In this respect, these drawings, along with those of Ronsard, constitute an essential step in the artist's desire to extract the quintessence of things, an approach that he would concretize in Jazz and, in a striking manner, in the paper cutouts of the mid-1940s.