Matisse in Nice

Henri Matisse visited Nice for the first time just before the end of WW I. Initially, his timing was bad - the weather was awful during the week of his stay. Disgruntled, Matisse made himself ready to return to Paris, and then (as he told a friend 20 years later), "On the last day of my trip the rain stopped and the sun came out. I was so dazzled by the light that I decided to stay for a while longer. I have remained here ever since." This slim, elegant little volume isn't much as a work of art history - it is basically a compendium of photographs taken by Matisse and his friends and family between 1919 and the 1950s along with a few reproductions of various images produced by the artist during this time period. That said, "Matisse in Nice" is a charming, handsomely produced bagatelle which gives friends and fans of this artist a glimpse into his private world. Flipping through the book, one realizes that the elegance of Matisse's paintings is the direct result of the beauty and harmony which he created in his real life - a few beloved vases, chairs and windows appear over and over again in paintings done decades apart from one another, a visual revelation which makes on realize that for the greatest artists, art and life are indeed one. "Matisse in Nice" is also valuable for reproducing some stunning but little-known paintings, such as "The Black Door" from 1942. This tiny picture seems to flicker with light; the bronze-gold-russet light of an October afternoon in the south of France. Although the painting depicts a woman (seated in the striped persian robe which was one of Matisse's favorite props) in an armchair, the picture is not a portrait as her face has been left blank. This subtle but brilliant device frees the mind from any narrative questions and allows the spirit to respond directly to an image which seems to emanate light of its own accord. This image is one of a series of compositions which repeat the same theme, but with different lighting effects evocative of different moods or times of day. Also very useful are a few reproductions of Matisse's sketches for works like these - one sees that each color choice was mapped out beforehand, and that the apparent ease of these images is the end result of a complex thought process. These images alone make the book a handsome and worthwhile addition to any library on this great master.