6
absorbed in
Biographical Note
my
surroundings, with no other ideas than the newness of
all I saw, overwhelmed, from Tahiti was not through the United States, but directly to Marseilles via Suez. In the autumn of 1930, he was invited to serve on the jury of the 1930 Carnegie International Exhibition, and after this, returned to New York, where he visited the homes of many collectors of his paintings. In the meantime, Dr. Albert C. Barnes, the important American collector, who had invited him to visit the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, proposed a commission for a mural decoration for the Foundation, on the subject of the dance. Matisse returned to France, but returned to Merion in late December to plan for the commission, which he began later in an abandoned film studio in Nice. In November 1931 the Museum of Modern Art gave Matisse his first large American one-man show in New York. This show had been preceded by an important show in Berlin at the Thannhauser Gallery in the late winter of 1930, and by a large show which opened at the Georges Petit Galleries in Paris in 193 1, composed in the main of pictures from the Nice period, 1918-30. Thus the years 1 930-1 brought to fruition many of Matisse's personal ambitions and solidified his already growing international reputation. In 193 1 Cahiers a" Art published a special number on Matisse as did the French journal Les Chroniques du Jour. In 1932 Matisse completed the Barnes Mural, only to find that the wall space had been measured incorrectly; he then began a second version, which was eventually installed in 1933 to the satisfaction of both Barnes and Matisse. In October of 1932, the Skira edition of Poesies de Stephane Mallarme, Matisse's first illustrated book, was published. In 1935 Matisse signed a contract with Paul Rosenberg, and also was commissioned by George Macy of New York to illustrate an edition of James Joyce's Ulysses. In 1937 Massine asked Matisse to design sets and costumes for Rouge et Noir, a ballet with music by Shostakovitch and choreography by Massine. His painting at this period had begun to take on a new vigour and boldness. In 1938 Matisse moved to Cimiez, to the former Hotel Regina, overlooking Nice, where he designed set and costumes for the ballet Rouge et Noir which was produced in the following year by the Ballets
unconsciously storing up
many
things.* 7 Matisse's return
Russes de Monte Carlo. In 1940, after the fall of Paris, Matisse secured a Brazilian visa and passage for Rio de Janeiro, but he changed his mind. As he said in a letter from Nice to Pierre Matisse in New York, 'When I saw everything in such a mess I had them reimburse my ticket. It seemed to me as if I would be deserting. If everyone who has any value leaves France, what remains of France?' 8 Despite the wartime shortages, Matisse managed to work, although not at full capacity. As he put it to Pierre Matisse, T have to invent and that takes great effort for which I must have something in reserve. Perhaps I would be better off somewhere else, freer, less weighed down.' 9 In any event, Matisse stayed in France throughout the war. In March 1941, Matisse was operated on for an intestinal occlusion at Lyons, and he returned to Nice in May. The operation and ensuing illness left him seriously affected; damage to the muscular wall of one side of the abdomen caused him permanent weakness so that he was able to hold himself erect only for limited periods of time. While he was convalescing, he began to work once again, painting and drawing in bed. At this time he also
Fabiani edition of Montherlant's Pasiphdd and the Skira Amours de Ronsard. In 1943, Matisse moved to the Villa *Le Reve', at Vence and, still in less than the best of health, started work on the cut and pasted paper compositions for Jazz. In the early summer of 1945 he went to Paris, where, for the first time since 1940, he had a retrospective exhibition of thirty-seven paintings at the Salon d'Automne. The same year, an exhibition of paintings by Picasso and Matisse was given at the Victoria and
worked on
illustrations for the
edition of FloriUge des