Matisse: The Fabric of Dreams

The impact of Henri Matisse's lifelong interest in textiles is shown in a selection of approximately 75 paintings, drawings, prints, and painted paper cutouts. Also exhibited are examples from the artist's personal collection of textiles, many of which have been packed away in family trunks since Matisse's death in 1954. Of particular interest are Matisse’s canvases inspired by a fragment of blue-and-white printed cotton that the artist purchased from a secondhand shop in Paris, works from the 1910s and 1920s demonstrating the influence of North African fabrics and screens, paintings featuring Romanian blouses and couture gowns, and Matisse’s late paper cutouts, which are juxtaposed with his African and Polynesian textiles. The exhibition concludes with maquettes of the chasubles that Matisse designed for the Chapel of the Rosary at Vence. Accompanied by a catalogue.

The exhibition is made possible by The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation and the Janice H. Levin Fund.

Additional support has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.

Education programs are made possible by The Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust.

The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Royal Academy of Arts, London; and Le Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis.

An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Pressetext

Matisse: The Fabric of Dreams
Henri Matisse - His Art and His Textiles