70 YEARS ON: THE EXTRAORDINARY LEGACY OF M A T I S S E
Collecting art is a journey, and all journeys have to start somewhere.
Here at Hidden, we're all about connecting our friends and clients with great art. Art is for everybody, so we listen to everybody. We've met lots of lovely people over the last seven years, and many of them have told us that their collection began with a single artist:
Henri Matisse.
Hidden is pleased to announce an exhibition dedicated to Henri Matisse, commemorating 70 years since his passing. This showcase features a selection of original artworks that highlight Matisse’s significant contributions to Modern art.
Each piece in the collection is an authentic work, engaged with directly by the artist, rather than a mere reproduction. Matisse's innovative use of colour and form invites viewers to appreciate the depth and emotion embedded within his creations. From his iconic cut-outs to hand-signed lithographs, these works reflect pivotal moments in his artistic journey and the broader narrative of 20th century art.
Lithograph From the edition of 2,000
Alongside his astonishing career as a painter and draughtsman, Matisse created over 800 prints using a variety of techniques. He made his first prints in 1900, when he was still establishing a name for himself as an artist. Printmaking gave him the chance to reexamine elements of composition and line after laborious painting sessions. His prints were often created in bursts of intense activity. A shortage of materials during World War I pushed him towards the intimacy and immediacy of printmaking, and during this time he produced more than fifty etchings, ten lithographs and a dozen monotypes. The 1920s were especially fruitful, with the artist creating a plethora of sensuous, lavishly detailed lithographs that rival his paintings for richness. In the early 1930s he produced over a hundred etchings. The late 1940s saw an eruption of more than fifty sugar lift aquatints that express the gorgeous eloquence of his ink and brush drawings. The story of Matisse’s evolution is traced out in a body of prints that spans more than fifty years.
Signed and dedicated, 'à Pierre Matisse' in pencil
Etching, on Chine appliqué, to Arches paper
Edition of 25 plus 5 AP
£12,950
A beautiful and instantly recognisable work by the legendary Henri Matisse - this etching is from an edition of only 25.
Signed and numbered by the artist, this particular etching also features a special dedication to his youngest son, the famous art dealer Pierre Matisse.
Signed and numbered in pencil
Etching on Marais paper
Edition of 25 plus 5 AP
£10,250
Matisse worked on relatively few etchings during the 1920s, but right at the end of the decade he produced an eruption of more than one hundred individual images. They featured studies of professional models: nudes, odalisques and women gazing at goldfish. Matisse produced these etchings from life, working directly onto the plate before the model. These images are wonderfully daring and informal, featuring brilliant innovations in draughtsmanship that give the sitter a sense of real immediacy. This stunning example came from the collection of the Matisse family.
Signed and inscribed 'Essai' in pencil
Lithograph on Japon paper
Edition of 25 plus 5 AP
£16,500
Although celebrated as a colourist, Matisse was every bit as expressive when working in black and white. His prints often feature the same opulent detail and decoration as his paintings, and they show off his unique draughtsmanship to wonderful effect. The lithographs that Matisse produced between 1926 and 1930 are among his most important printed works. This piece came from the collection of the Matisse family. It was originally intended as artist's proof 1/5, but at some point Matisse crossed this inscription out and redesignated it as a trial proof.
Signed in pencil
Lithograph, on Chine appliqué, to Arches paper
Edition of 25 plus 5 AP
£11,650
The book, 'Poemes de Charles d'Orleans', published in 1950 by Tériade Éditeur, Paris, is widely considered to be one of the most spontaneous and joyous of all of Matisse's printed works. The poems of the fifteenth-century author were written out in the artist's hand and framed by his own borders, in the manner of an illuminated manuscript.
Translating as 'Study for Poems of Charles d'Orléans', and produced some 7 or 8 years before the publication of the book, this gorgeous lithograph depicts a woman sitting, hands folded in her lap.
We love artists' posters here at Hidden. They aren't the cheap, mass-produced reprints you might find pinned to a bedroom wall. They're the original posters produced for some of the most acclaimed exhibitions in the history of modern and contemporary art - meticulously produced collaborations between artists and galleries that pushed the limits of design.
Artists' posters sit at the intersection between fine art, graphic design and pop culture. They were designed to look good! They serve as time capsules from key moments in the history of art, survivors of a pre-digital world that has largely disappeared.
Lithograph on wove paper
Edition of 500
£2,500
Surely one of Matisse's most beautiful posters, this glorious piece is also one of the hardest to find. Produced by the legendary Atelier Mourlot, it dates from a particularly fruitful year in Matisse's career, when he was immersed in his paper cut-outs. These works were revolutionary, and he was incredibly proud of them.
Matisse was highly demanding when it came to lithographic interpretations of his work, and he once held up publication of an art journal for two years while the printer struggled to capture the precise colour effects he demanded. His astonishing sensitivity to colour and profound belief in the cutouts ensured that this poster was a labour of love, and a dazzling record of probably the greatest final statement made by any artist in the 20th century.
Lithograph Edition of 10,000
£4,500
This poster is a particularly vivid example of the dedication Matisse and Mourlot lavished upon their work. From 1943 to 1949, the artist lived at the Villa Le Rêve, a seaside estate in Vence, His studio here consisted of two connected rooms on the second floor of the house, with windows overlooking large palm trees in the front garden. In 1947, he began work on a group of paintings that would come to be known as the Vence Interiors. These would be his last paintings, and they demonstrate an extraordinary freedom of colour and composition. In the spring of 1948 he wrote to his son Pierre to report that his most recent paintings "impress everyone who has seen them because they are vivid and rich." The work featured in this poster - Still Life with Pomegranates - is a typical example.
Surely one of the most beautiful travel posters ever produced, this work is a dazzling fusion of the painter's extraordinary eye and the printer's profound sensitivity.
Lithographic poster on wove paper
£2,250
Few posters boast the incredible wall-presence of this piece. Produced by the Atelier Mourlot, this lithograph was published by the French Tourism office to promote the city of Nice. The energy and Verve of Matisse's cut-outs is captured beautifully, and the intensity of the colour harmonies have to be seen to be believed.
Matisse had created the original cut-out in 1950. It likely depicts the acclaimed American dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham, whom he had seen perform in Paris. The model had always been of profound importance to Matisse's work. Writing in 1939, he declared that “My models…are the principal theme of my work [..] I depend absolutely on my model." Here, the human form and the kinetic joy of dance are united to fabulous effect.
Many of the 20th century's most important artists chose to produce editions of unsigned prints. Contemporary artists often make the same choice. Sometimes these prints are conceived for the pages of an artist's book, on other occasions they are produced as standalone works in their own right. Whatever their purpose, they undergo the same creative process as every other artwork. They are still pictures that demanded technical brilliance and rigorous visual discipline from their creators.
An unsigned Picasso etching is still printed from a copper-plate that was handled by the master. An unsigned lithograph by Matisse will still have been produced in the legendary Atelier Mourlot from the artist's hand-drawn limestone block. Unsigned works still represent the fruit of an artist's efforts and bring the viewer within touching distance of an art history superstar.
Collotype
Edition of 950
£1,925
In the early 1940s, in war-torn Europe, the publisher Martin Fabiani offered Henri Matisse an extraordinary commission. Matisse was to choose a few of his favourite themes and make a series of drawings.
In a letter to his daughter Matisse commented on the project; For a year I made a very important effort, one of the most important of my life. I developed my drawing and with ease made surprising progress with freely expressed sensibility, a wide variety of sensations but a minimum of means. It was like a breakthrough. The works were sensitively drawn with elegant unshaded line describing simplified forms of female figures and still lifes.
1936
Lithograph on thin laid paper
£750
From the rare 1936 special publication of Cahiers d'Art, devoted to Henri Matisse's pen and ink line drawings.
Etching
Edition of 125
£3,250
Original etching on Japon Impérial, stamped with artist's monogram.
This etching was made by Matisse as a study in preparation for his suite of 29 etchings to accompany the 1932 book Poesiespoems - by Stéphane Mallarmé. The etching remained uneditioned until 1987 when the Matisse Foundation authorised an edition of 125 etchings only, to be printed from the original plate.
Matisse's cut-outs are one of the triumphs of 20th century art. Even now, seventy years after his death, they radiate energy and optimism.
These lithographs were begun in 1950, almost at the end of the artist's life, and are from the only edition of lithographs of the cut-outs produced directly by Matisse working with Mourlot.
The images reproduce his iconic designs and were incorporated into a volume of the French portfolio Verve, Dernieres Oeuvres de Matisse, also known as Verve 35/36, celebrating his last works and published posthumously in Paris in 1958.
Signed in plate
Lithograph
From the edition of 2,000
£3,150
Nu Bleu X, 1958
Lithograph
From the edition of 2,000
£1,025
Lithograph
From the edition of 2,000
£1,600
Lithograph
From the edition of 2,000
£1,600
Nuit de Noel, 1958
Lithograph
From the edition of 2,000
£950
Poissons Chinois, 1958
Lithograph
From the edition of 2,000
£750
Grenades, 1958
Lithograph From the edition of 2,000
£750
Zulma, 1958
Lithograph From the edition of 2,000
£1,050
While this catalogue provides a glimpse into a selection of work on display, we invite you to visit Hidden Gallery in Bristol, where you can purchase and take home a piece of art history. Whether you are a seasoned collector or new to the art world, our friendly and knowledgeable team are here to provide personalised guidance, ensuring you find the perfect piece to suit your taste and budget.
1 November -
1 December Opening Hours: Mon-Sat | 10am-5pm Sun | 11-4pm Location: 6-8 The Clifton Arcade Bristol BS84AA
hello@hiddengallery.co.uk hiddengallery.co.uk
