HENRI MATISSE 

 Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (31 December 1869-3 November 1954) was a French artist/craftsman who worked in an assortment of media and materials including his use of models and paper patterns, however, is internationally celebrated for the unique show-stoppering art works he created as a painter. Alongside famous artists such as Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, he is viewed as the most interesting and compelling figures of present-day workmanship whose works achieved progressive improvements in the craftsmanship world. He is viewed as the best colourist of the 20th century and is known for his works in Fauvism, an extremely influential character who is now known as a revolutionary component in evolving the visual arts throughout the start of the twentieth century. “His mastery of the expressive language of colour and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.” (1) He is known for pieces such as ‘Blue Nude’ and ‘Woman with a Hat’.  

The Blue Nudes is a progression of blue lithographs produced using patterns portraying bare figures in various positions. Confined by his state of being after his medical procedure for stomach malignant growth, Matisse started making workmanship by cutting and painting pieces of paper by hand and administered the production of the lithographs until his demise in 1954.  

This piece ’Blue Nude II’ is the second of the series created in 1952. The blue distinctive figure sits atop a while canvas. Due to the newly reduced movement because of his increasing illness the piece is part painted and part collage of paper. This piece, just like the rest in the series, is Gouache-painted paper cut-outs stuck to paper mounted on canvas. 116.3 cm x 88.9 cm.  (2)

(1) https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henri-matisse-1593 

(2)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Nudes