Exhibition by Victor Waddiington on HENRI MATISSE !869 - 1954 at 25 Cork Street London W1
HENRI MATISSE - DRAWINGS
21 April to 27 May 1967. NEAR FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS, 1967. 4to., First Edition, with introduction in English and French, 37 monotone reproductions, text, ; original printed wrappers, plus a five page listing of the works being offered with descriptions and measurements. A near fine copy in publisher's original glassine dustwrapper. [Attributes: First Edition; Soft Cover.]
A Painter's Notes on his DRAWINGS (hENRI MATISSE) 1896-1954
My feelings find their purest and most direct expression in my own shaded outline drawings. This it is made possible by the simplification of the medium. at the same time, these drawings are more complete than they appear to those who mistake them for 'sketches' of some kind. They are generators of light. If we look at them in a subdued or indirect light, it will be quite clear, apart from the pungency and sensibility of the line itself, they harbor the light; and they harbor, also, value-differences which correspond to colour. Many people can recognize these qualities in broad daylight.
They are due to the fact that my outline drawings are inevitably preceded by a number of studies in a less rigorous medium, charcoal for instance, or stump. these allow me to take into account, at one and the same time the character of the model, her ways of expressing that character, the quality of the light which surrounds her, the nature of her environment, and all the other things which drawing alone can bring out. This preliminary activity may last for quite a few sittings. only when i feel quite exhausted by it can i let my pen run freely and confidently, with my mind cleared of all irrelevances. At such times i have no doubt at all that my feelings find their natural outlet in the sculptural handwriting which results. the movement of my pen is changed with emotion; and when it has modeled the light in the white page, without robbing that page of its affecting whiteness, there is nothing that i can add and nothing that i can take away. The pages written and cannot be corrected. If the drawring does not satisfy me, there is nothing for but to begin again, as if i were an acrobat who had left his performance ......
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