Author: Zhang Caixia (Lecturer, School of Humanities and Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Shuren University)
A few days ago, “Matisse’s Matisse” was exhibited in Beijing. The name of the exhibition is quite expressive, because the works are all from the Matisse Museum, and it also highlights an interesting topic: Matisse sees himself. Matisse is very concerned about how to present his works to the public – in 1952, at the age of 82, he donated his collection of works, established the Matisse Art Museum in his hometown of Le Cato-Cambrezzi, and personally participated in the Display design. Many of Matisse’s contemporaries believed that when he talked about art, he was eloquent and not like a painter. However, this is not his original intention. He advocated that “the best spokesperson for a painter is his work”.
Ⅰ. Self-portraits and portraits
For artists, self-portraits are not only a language of self-statement, but also inseparable from their own artistic achievements. Since the 19th century, self-portrait creation has become more popular than ever. However, some researchers have found that in the 60 years from 1910 to 1970, the most outstanding artists rarely expressed themselves in self-portraits. The same is true for Matisse and Picasso. As the two most accomplished painters of the 20th century, they also created self-portraits, but not many. Matisse only painted 4 self-portraits in oil (1900-1918) in his life, and three of them showed him picking up a paintbrush, showing a painter dedicated to creation. After the age of 50, Matisse only painted sketches or engraved self-portraits, all of which were outlined with a few strokes. At the age of 69, he had painted four self-portraits (sketches), and at the age of 77, he interpreted them like this: Although the lower parts of the four self-portraits are completely different, it does not prevent the painting of the same person – he carefully observed In life, always know yourself soberly, and will not completely bow to life.
Matisse’s “Self-Portrait” file picture
Interestingly, in addition to self-portraits, Matisse also noticed a fashion thing—portraits, and showed a strong interest in them. In particular, he prefers to present himself in well-taken personal photos rather than self-portraits whenever he needs to illustrate a publicly posted text. His portraits can basically be divided into two categories: one is the photos in the working scene – he is either holding a drawing board, or is sculpting, or cutting paper, or conceiving in front of the model; the other is the personal frontal photos Or profile, he always looks at the audience with a serious face, which looks less like a painter, more like a politician. Matisse also took many more “serious” photos – an artist in a tie working in a studio.
Matisse’s playing with portraits is due to the “fate of people” in the world. In 1905, at the age of 35, Matisse and his friends participated in the Autumn Salon. Their paintings were colorful and rough. Critic Louis Vauxell joked in the newspaper that they were “a pack of beasts”, though with no malice. At that time, the most famous French weekly magazine “Picture” published this article again, but it was taken out of context. Matisse’s works occupied two pages, namely “Woman Wearing a Hat” and “Open Window (Collioure) “. Afterwards, Matisse and his friends were given the title of “Fauvism”, and Matisse also became famous in one fell swoop.
“Open Windows” profile picture
“Woman in a Hat” profile picture
But the trouble is that neither followers nor the public understand Matisse, and even deeply misunderstand him. The newspapers said that the Fauvists used hideous tricks to deceive the public’s attention, and Matisse was especially good at it. However, at the Salon two years later, Dong Shi’s imitated “Fauvism” works were everywhere, and Fauvism has almost become synonymous with “liar”. The main reason for this is that the paintings of Matisse and friends are too colorful, giving the impression of bright paint being randomly smeared on the canvas. In the Western painting tradition, elegant taste is not associated with bright colors. “Open Window” is a seascape painting looking out of the window from the interior, but the whole picture is colorful and contrasted strongly. Different color blocks represent different spaces, forming a perspective structure from near to far. After Fauvism became famous, Matisse was often dubbed “Dyeer”.
In fact, Fauvism cannot be regarded as a school, because there are no clear rules and techniques, let alone a program or declaration. In Matisse’s artistic career, Fauvism only lasted for two short years. It was a stage of color experiments between him and friends such as Derain, Flemish and Mangen. But in the eyes of posterity, Fauvism was the first art movement in the 20th century, and the subsequent modern art was mostly named after various movements, such as Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and so on.
In 1910, the writer Douglas published a review article in a newspaper, describing Matisse as a “madman” and even a “dissolute artist”. What is quite dramatic is that the accompanying picture was provided by Matisse. He chose a well-designed “self-portrait” – “Matisse in the Studio”. In the photo, he is 39 years old, holding a drawing board, serious and Seriously eyeing the audience, neither lunatic nor dissolute. This is a frozen “moment”: a rigorous artist is seriously creating.
In this way, when the artistic ideal that Matisse pursued was not understood by the public, the portrait photography he took “not doing business properly” wonderfully reversed his negative image. In 1911, the Curtis Publishing Company also investigated in the United States and found that “a good picture is more effective than words”. It is no coincidence that Matisse’s era coincided with the gradual rise of photography. Although the first photo was born in 1839, it was not until after Matisse was born that photos gradually became popular in newspapers and magazines. Pictorial was the first magazine in France to publish photos. In his later years, Matisse also took many photos to present his paper-cut creation process. At 72, he even said that a good photographer is far better than a portrait painter.
This remark came from the mouth of the old painter, and it also revealed a bit of helplessness. As early as in Venice in the 16th century, Matisse’s predecessors had already created self-portraits. At that time, self-portraits were rooted in reality and regarded as “images in mirrors”. But Matisse’s ideal is just the opposite. What he pursues is not the external reality, but “reaching tranquility through simplification of thought and form.” In his view, “details will not only weaken the clarity of lines, but also destroy intensity of emotion”. In other words, if Matisse painted his self-portrait as a photograph, it would be contrary to his ideals. On the contrary, those four sketches were more in line with his ideal, and he drew himself with just a few strokes.
Perhaps, using portraits instead of self-portraits is a compromise made by Matisse: it is difficult for others to understand his own works and ideals, but the image of a serious and dedicated painter is easily recognized by the public.
Matisse’s profile picture being carved
Ⅱ. Painter’s Notes and Artistic Ideals
Matisse’s compromise on imagery does not mean that it will do the same in other forms. At the age of 38, he published “Painter’s Notes” in the famous “Grand Review” magazine. Although this is a text and a long story, in Matisse’s view, its importance is no less than any of his works. As Spoeling, the author of “The Biography of Matisse,” said, Matisse expounded his theoretical position in a clear and confident manner. His ideal is “an art of balance, purity and serenity, free from disturbing or depressing subjects, like a comfortable armchair that can recover from fatigue and soothe the soul”. In this long article, Matisse not only expresses the relationship between painting practice and art theory, but also clarifies the relationship between the painter himself, the artist group and the trend of the times. A year later, it was translated into Russian and German. Today, it is regarded as a classic work of the artist’s self-interpretation and occupies an important position in the history of art.
Around the artistic ideal of tranquility, Matisse’s artistic career has always been “color experiments”. As early as when he was studying with his teacher Gustave Moreau, he dissatisfied Moreau because of his pursuit of color. After the age of 28, Matisse ushered in a productive period of artistic creation. He painted a series of landscapes, mainly Notre-Dame de Paris seen from its windows, but not so much of natural landscapes as of interplay of solid colours. At the age of 35, his color exploration has achieved a little success, as reflected in “Woman in a Hat” and “Open Window” at the Autumn Salon, but was criticized as a beast style; at the age of 36, he exhibited at the Independent Salon again. When “The Joy of Life” was exhibited at the Shanghai Film Festival, it was even more difficult for people to understand, and many people began to ridicule him.
In the face of criticism from others, Mattis once fell into self-doubt. However, in his character, he has always retained a stoic, tenacious and orderly side, and there is almost no sentimentality or self-pity. Matisse was born in northern France, where the environment was harsh and life was difficult. Matisse also inherited the family’s firm will and indomitable spirit. At the age of 21, he ignored his father’s opposition and began to learn painting. The price was that he lost his father’s financial support, and he lived a life of long-term poverty. But he has also said many times that because he has nothing, he doesn’t worry about losing anything. Compared with his wealthy peers, he has a kind of freedom that they can’t get.
Taking painting as a career is Matisse’s panacea against all difficulties. At the age of 36, Matisse wrote to his friend Mangen that all he could do was continue to paint. The children also found that their father’s drawings were a source of cohesion and emotional stability for the whole family. Matisse’s eldest son, Pierre, later wrote in a letter to his father: “I know exactly where your paintings are in our family. Each one represents a period and provides us with new nourishment. Each one is so important that you don’t know how precious it is until it disappears.”
In the autumn of 1906, Matisse ushered in the harvest season, and collectors began to compete for his works for the first time. Two years later, Matisse exhibited 11 paintings, 13 sculptures and 7 drawings at the Autumn Salon. “Red Harmony” is an ingenious work for Matisse to clarify his own artistic style. The painting was originally “Blue Harmony”, but Matisse later repainted it in red. In “Red Harmony”, he completely abandoned light and shadow and traditional perspective techniques, and instead used a large area of red to express the depth of the indoor space. What makes people feel amazing is that although the tone itself does not change, it clearly shows different spaces, distinguishing the tabletop, wall and floor. Since then, Matisse has truly become a master of decoration, and “Painter’s Notes” was published at the end of that year. His artistic mission thus became more explicit: the purpose is to relax, like a comfortable armchair.
In “Painter’s Notes”, Matisse tried to clarify other people’s misunderstandings. He really wanted to create a new modeling language for painting, but it did not destroy the Western painting tradition, but was still rooted in the tradition. He said: “The role of the artist is the same as that of the scholar, in that he grasps those universal truths that are repeated repeatedly, but when he grasps their deepest meaning, these truths have new meaning for him. They are transformed into his own truth.” When it comes to concrete creation, whether it is characters, Arabic patterns, or bright colors, they are like ancient treasures he collected, or borrowed from Eliot’s description of the poet, including previous works in the in his own works. At the age of 65, Matisse published “On Modernism and Tradition”, reiterating this view: the tradition of art has not been interrupted. “Abandoning tradition, an artist may succeed, but the success is fleeting and his name is quickly forgotten.”
Of course, Matisse was not born with eloquence. His writing is clear, concise, and well thought out, which is also the result of his long-term study. Pierre clearly remembered that his father often read books. When he was in his fifties, he was still reading “How to Write French Well”.
Matisse’s “Self-Portrait (Sketch)” file picture
Ⅲ. Works and Self
Without “Painter’s Notes”, it may be difficult to understand the following phenomenon: Matisse’s works were originally regarded as “scribbled” by critics, while his image in the photographs is exactly the opposite. It is also intriguing that when he gained fame as Fauvism, a Matisse who can speak well in interviews also appeared.
There is an anecdote that is often brought up: the people who interviewed Matisse expected to see an eccentric artist, but Matisse appeared in front of him as a gentle gentleman, he spoke clearly and behaved elegantly. As early as 1909, the critic Charles Attier interviewed him and found that he had extraordinary insights and was far from the “beast of Fauvism”. American collector Leo Stein also praised Matisse’s wit: “When talking about art, he can accurately express his ideas, which is one of the few painters.”
It can be seen that when Matisse faced the public, whether in writing or speech, he used concise words and precise expressions. Since the age of 37, Matisse has accepted more than 50 interviews in his life. Surprisingly, what he expressed can be said to be the same as “Painter’s Notebook”. When the “Painter’s Notes” was published a year later, the 39-year-old Matisse was interviewed by Attil, almost repeating the points in this note. At the age of 42, Matisse said in an interview with a painter: “A painting should always be decorative.” In 1945, Matisse was 75 years old. When discussing his decorative art, Matisse quoted Delacroix’s words to defend, “We are not understood, we are only recognized”, and reiterated that decorativeness is not superficial, but one of the most basic characteristics of works of art. Perhaps it is this kind of repetition that keeps Matisse’s ideals from sinking into the sea, and his ego from nowhere to rely on. The two are always mentioned in the dialogue and realized in this way. Merleau-Ponty said it well: “The words of the speaker do not express a given thought, but realize it.”
In 1941, Matisse, who was more than seventy years old, underwent a major operation. Since then, he has been interviewed by the famous French critic Pierre Coution for 9 times and lasted 3 months. Matisse made several revisions to the speech, named it “Chat with Matisse”, and prepared to publish it by Schilla Press. Surprisingly, he eventually gave up publishing it, and the transcript of the conversation was sealed in the archives until it was rediscovered in 2013, more than 70 years later. Perhaps this is the reflection of the contradiction in Matisse’s heart. He likes Nietzsche’s famous saying, “There are no facts, only interpretations”; but he also said that painters should cut out their tongues.
What is the real self in Matisse’s ideal? In addition to “Painter’s Notes”, a simpler answer is contained in his works, which are “Pink Studio” and “Red Studio” (1911), which were painted by Matisse at the age of 41. “Red Studio” is particularly illustrative: the walls are conspicuously hung with various works of his own, while the tables, chairs, clocks and other items in the room are only outlined with thin lines. Matisse’s familiarity with both red and pink meant that his experimentation with color was well established and his decorative ideals were well established. To put it more clearly, color is both foreground and background, painting is both work and decoration, and the ultimate goal is to relax and please people. This work is so important that in 2022, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has specially curated an exhibition called “Matisse: The Red Studio”. Chief curator Ann Temkin believes that although the studio is a traditional theme in art history, Matisse is different. He allows red to cover the entire room, making the studio from three-dimensional to two-dimensional, thereby creating a A decidedly modern space for painting.
Of course, this is just Matisse’s ideal scenario. Goldschmidt interviewed him the year the painting was created, and the Danish painter and art historian discovered that Matisse did have many paintings on the walls of his studio, but mainly by Gauguin, Cézanne and Marché , and younger painters of the same period, only one is Matisse’s own. On the other hand, his “Red Studio” is equivalent to creating an imaginary small exhibition hall, displaying his proud works and embodying his creative ideals. Another 41 years later, the 82-year-old Matisse said in an interview: “All my works constitute Henri Matisse. The works represent me, express my emotions, and continue my life.” At this time, Matisse made it more clear: the work is the projection of the artist’s self. Although some artists have a short physical life, their artistic life is long-lived, such as Raphael, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Seurat. At that time, he has already fully expressed himself with his works.
He himself is the same, pursuing the simplification of form, and always striving to express emotion with free lines and bright colors, which opened up a generation of ethos. Subsequent artists were deeply influenced by Matisse, the most famous being Hans Hoffmann and Mark Rothko, who are the most important modern and contemporary abstract artists. Matisse is also known as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, on par with Picasso. Mark Rothko was 23 when he first saw The Red Studio. His description can serve as a footnote to Matisse’s artistic life and influence: “When the use of color is pure to a certain extent, the resulting power will be stronger than any figurative painting.”
“Guangming Daily” (version 13, August 17, 2023)
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责编：孙宗鹤 ]
