Thursday, April 28, 1983/The Battalion/Page 5
J
he of color shocked world
Matisse show ‘remarkable’
by Diana Sultenfuss
Battalion Staff
In 1905, Henri Matisse (1869-
1) shocked the art world by
g color for its own sake.
This use of color, combined
th a clean, controlled line,
timed the basis of Matisse’s art.
“I have a great love for pure,
lear, sparkling color and I am
|ways surprised to find beauti-
1 colors dulled and dirtied un-
^cessarily,” Matisse explained
; the time.
Near the end of his life,
latisse began work on the port-
llio“Matisse: Jazz,” which is on
Ihibit until May 1 1 at the MSC
Review
Eric EtidIa
tt and ikl
onighl
May 8,
allery. The show is on loan
im the collection of the Ma
tt Koogler McNay Art Insti-
te in San Antonio.
“Jazz” was published as a
ok in 1947. Every aspect of
azz,” from the illustrations to
jetext, is remarkable. The in-
Itwining of the text and the
ates integrate “Jazz” with
ength and liveliness. Matisse
lies color from black-and-
dite more completely than any
flier painter. His works show a
olence of colors, a syncopation
lines, a gentle warmth of sha-
)ws. Matisse works to retain
e intensity of juxtaposed
dors.
The plates in Jazz were
;inted by pochoir, a method of
linting with stencils. Matisse
iaped the colored papers and
jplied them to the surface in a
lontaneous and improvisation-
al manner, like good jazz —
Ihkh is how the series received
its name. Stencils were made
, from the shapes and then
printed with the same gouaches
used to color Matisse’s paper.
Matisse cut into color much as
if he were making a relief, and
technically the cut-outs are in
fact very shallow reliefs.
“Cutting straight into the
chosen color reminds me of the
direct carving of the sculptor,”
he said. This elementary proce
dure demands a mastery of col
ors in tjieir primitive, simple
state.
The imagery in Jazz is diffe
rent from Matisse’s usual por
trayals — the subject matter
comes from memory and imagi
nation rather than sight or ex
perience. There are plates of
music halls, legends, travel and
the circus — many of the sub
jects are pastoral in nature. At
one time, Matisse had planned
to call the book Le cirque (The
Circus). Circus* scenes pre
dominate — “The Acrobats,”
“The Horse, The Rider and the
Clown,” and “The Nightmare of
the White Elephant” are among
the plates relating to this theme.
Variations are created by such
poetic abstractions as “The
Heart and Destiny” and several
abstract compositions, including
three called “The Lagoon.” The
shapes of his lagoon works look
like psychologists’ ink blots.
Other abstractions are shown in
“The Cowboy” and “The Night
mare of the White Elephant.”
Two other plates are about fan
tasies — “The Burial of Pierrot”
and “The Nightmare of the
White Elephant.” “Icarus Fall
ing Through the Sky” and “The
Wolf from Little Red Riding
Hood” are portrayals of
legends.
Stylistically, Matisse used sev
eral techniques, including re
petition and framing. Several of
rts
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Battalion Reporter
■ A team of 35 geologists from
bound the world have assem-
Wed at Texas A&M to discuss
the appropriate direction that
Kological research should take.
I The meetings are the fifth
animal symposium sponsored
by the Texas A&M Geodyna-
jics Research Program.
The symposium focuses on a
|nge of topics related to the
eanic lithosphere. The scien-
ifets will discuss plate tectonics, a
Sieory that suggests continents
pre floating around the globe on
lix major plates.
Scientists from the United
|5tates, England, Canada, Japan,
the Soviet Union, France and
South Africa will speak at the
symposium.
i The talks will be presented in
four sessions on the sixth floor
of Rudder Tower. A $35 regis-
ftation fee is required for pro-
Itesional scientists who attend,
but students may attend free of
Barge.
■ The first session, which began
■this morning, discussed spread-
,ull ^
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‘Cowboy” by Henri Matisse.
staff photo by Eric Lee
Matisse’s pictures are based on
repetition of the same element
to emphasize freedom and sym
metry. As he said in “Jazz:” “In a
fig tree no one leaf is exactly the
same as another, but each one
differs in shape, and yet every
leaf cries out: fig tree!”
The richness of his work com
es from the infinite repetition of
a particular element. In “The
Toboggan,” “The Sword Swal
lower” and “The Clown,” fram
ing devices are used primarily as
containing devices — they
assume an architectural rather
than a pictorial function.
The plates show Matisse’s use
of line and color in design and
his mastery of the graphic arts.
Matisse’s merging of color,
draftsmanship and form makes
the paper cutouts especially
powerful. Matisse summarized
“Jazz” by saying: “The images
presented by these lively and
violent prints came from crystal
lizations of memories of the cir
cus, of popular tales or of
travel.”
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ing under the sea centers where
molten magma is excreted from
long cracks running north and
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Older material that came from
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This movement is the basis of
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Evolution of the ocean lithos
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