Described by one of his Pointillist friends as “wildly impatient”, Matisse dominated the art scene up to the 1950s and is regarded as one of the most fascinating artistic intellects of the 20th century. A central figure in debate all through his career, he was the leader of the Fauves, a critical observer of Cubism, a follower of Signac, Renoir and Bonnard, the rival of Picasso, a teacher and the precursor of an art that looks forward to the abstract expressionism of New York.
Featuring 50 works by Matisse and 47 by contemporaries like Picasso, Renoir, Bonnard, Modigliani, Miró, Derain, Braque, Marquet and Léger, all on loan from the Centre Pompidou, the exhibition Matisse and His Era is designed to present the master’s works in the precise context of his friendships and artistic exchanges with other painters. Visual comparison with works by his contemporaries will thus make it possible not only to detect subtle reciprocal influences and common sources of inspiration but also a sort of “spirit of the time” in which Matisse and the other artists are caught up and that also involves periods still awaiting study in depth, like the modernism of the 1940s and ’50s. Works by Matisse like Icarus from the Jazz series (1947), Large Red Interior(1948) andYoung Woman in White, Red Background(1946) are juxtaposed with paintings like Picasso’sNude in a Turkish Cap (1955), Braque’s Dressing Table in front of a Window(1942) and Léger’s Leisure, Homage to David (1948–49).
An initiative of the Cultural Department of the Turin City Council, the Regional Directorate of Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Piedmont and the Turin Royal Complex organized and produced by the Centre Pompidou, Paris, 24 ORE Cultura - Gruppo 24 Ore and Arthemisia Group, the exhibition is curated by Cécile Debray of the Centre Pompidou and held at Palazzo Chiablese, Turin, from 11 December 2015 to 15 May 2016.
It is chronologically divided into ten sections with thematic focuses illustrating the eminently Matissian motif of the odalisque, as in Odalisque in Red Trousers (1921), and the depiction of the studio, a recurrent subject of Matisse’s work but also of stupendous paintings by Braque (The StudioIX, 1952–56) and Picasso (The Studio, 1955), as well as the master’s oeuvre and trajectory from his studies with Gustave Moreau (1897–99) until the late paper cut-outs and his death in 1954.
The catalogue is published by 24 ORE Cultura - Gruppo 24 ORE.
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