Drawn from the extraordinary collection of Matisse prints that once belonged to the artist’s son, Pierre, and is now part of the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, Matisse as Printmaker includes approximately sixty-three etchings, monotypes, aquatints, lithographs, linocuts in black and white, and two-color prints—examples of every type of printmaking utilized by Matisse. The exhibition underscores the importance of his work in series, as well as such recurring motifs as the standing, seated, and reclining nude, and brings this unfamiliar and under-studied material to a wider audience. In February of 2011, this exhibition completed a successful national tour to the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Tampa Museum of Art, the Blanton Museum of Art, and the Art Gallery of Alberta. The AFA is delighted to be able to extend the tour for this critically acclaimed exhibition, which The Washington Timessaid "refreshes the typical view of Matisse."

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) may be best known as a painter and sculptor, but he himself placed no hierarchy on the mediums in which he worked. Each medium was exploited for its unique possibilities and became totally integrated with other formal and thematic concerns. It is in drawing, and by extension printmaking, however, that Matisse reveals most openly the focus of his thematic interests. In the print imagery, we see the significance of the series in Matisse’s art, as one motif, such as a reclining nude, becomes a progression of images. The serial aspects of printmaking uniquely mirror the artist’s process by taking the viewer around a model with different points of view as the process of studio modeling continues. Matisse as Printmaker includes series such as nudes in the studio, friends and family members, women watching fish in a bowl, leg studies, and odalisques.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue including an essay exploring Matisse’s use of printmaking throughout his career by Guest Curator Jay McKean Fisher, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

This exhibition will travel to three venues.

*This is when the tour is expected to begin. The exact date will depend upon the needs of the participating institutions.

For more information, contact Curator of Exhibitions Suzanne Ramljak at 212.988.7700 ext. 244 or sramljak@afaweb.org.