Matisse - Jazz

Matisse’s Jazz, one of the best know livre d’artiste of the mid 20th century and is, to paraphrase the artists, a book that meant to be looked at and not read. Jazz contains 20 vividly bright and exciting hand coloured pochoir images, retaining the brilliance and texture of the original papiers decoupes.

Here Matisse was illustrating elements of the circus and the landscape. Matisse introduced his large handwritten text as an afterthough when he did the lagoon images, an artistic ornament, a pause or a break in between the series of images. Here the three lagoon images are presented for you to enjoy.

Seven years after its inception, Jazz became an instant hit at is inaugural exhibition in December 1947.