FINE ANTIQUE PRINTS

Towards the end of his monumental career as a painter, sculptor and lithographer, an elderly and sick Henri Emil Benoit Matisse (1860-1954) was unable to stand and use a paintbrush for a long period of time and so developed the technique of ‘carving into color’ creating bold bright paper cutouts. These lithographs were included in the Verve Revue Artistique et Litteraire (“The Last Works of Matisse”), Volume IX No. 35-36, printed in Paris in 1958. Matisse had specially composed the cover of this volume and under this direction, the first of these plates were printed in 1954 and remainder completed in 1958 by Mourlot Brothers. These lithographs were produced at the end of the artist’s life and are the only edition of lithography produced under Matisse’s supervision.

Edition size: 2000 copies on wove paper. Printed signature and/or date on some of the lithographs.

Reference: Duthuit No. 139, “Catalogue Raisonné Des Ouvrages Illustrés”

Pochoir print, 14 x 10.5 inches sheet.
Archivally framed, 19 x 15.5 inches outside finished.
Excellent condition.