Matisse exhibition in Johannesburg

The exhibition will include a number of paintings, drawings, collages and prints covering all the dominant themes in Matisse’s body of work, from his early Fauvist years, through his interest in exoticism and orientalism, to the paper cut-outs that he produced in the last years of his life.

The core work in the exhibition will be the full suite of twenty impressions for the prints in the artist’s book Jazz - some of the best known and most celebrated of his works.

Henri Matisse | Rhythm and Meaning will be the first wide-ranging exhibition of Matisse’s work to be held in South Africa, and the fourth exhibition of important twentieth-century modernists to be held at the Standard Bank Gallery.

Commented Ben Kruger CEO Standard Bank, “The Henri Matisse exhibition will give South Africans the rare opportunity to experience the work of one of the twentieth century’s modern masters first hand. The exhibition forms part of our continued commitment to the support and development of the arts in South Africa from the multi disciplinary Standard Bank Young Artist Awards to grass roots jazz development at the Standard Bank Youth Jazz Festival. “

Exhibition curators

The exhibition sees the collaboration of the Standard Bank, the Embassy of France in South Africa, the French Institute of South Africa, and Musée départemental Matisse du Cateau-Cambrésis. The exhibition will be co-curated by Patrice Deparpe, director of the Musée départemental Matisse du Cateau-Cambrésis, and Federico Freschi, executive dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg.

“It is difficult to overstate Matisse’s significance as a master of twentieth-century modernism,” says Freschi. “His inventive use of form and colour in the early years of the twentieth-century profoundly and irrevocably altered the course of modern art. Of particular interest to South African audiences is the inspiration he took from African and other non-Western art forms during the early 1900s while struggling to find a new visual language to express the particular experience of the new, modern age.” Deparpe amplifies this theme, noting that, “With Derain, Matisse ‘discovered’ African masks, and indeed introduced them to Picasso. He travelled to North Africa, and painted, drew and sculpted many works with African-related themes. These include Algiers landscapes and odalisques, while the Jazz portfolio – which will be shown in its entirety on this exhibition – was partly inspired by Africa.”

This theme of Western modernism’s debt to African art was amply explored in the Standard Bank Gallery’s exhibition ‘Picasso and Africa’, which engaged directly with the question of the extent of Picasso’s fascination with African art, which became for the artist a seminal reference point in the development of Cubism. Freschi continues: “Henri Matisse | Rhythm and Meaning proposes to take this a step further, by looking at the expanded scope of Matisse’s legacy: the interest in non-traditional and ephemeral material, the interest in pattern and rhythm, and the interest in the conceptual rather than the perceptual as the primary principle governing art making.”

The works will be drawn primarily from the collection of the Musée départemental Matisse du Cateau-Cambrésis – which was established by Matisse himself in 1952 – and will be augmented with works from private collectors, and the Johannesburg Art Gallery. An educational programme, aimed at primary and secondary school learners as well as the general art-loving public, will support the exhibition.

‘Jazz is rhythm and meaning’ – Henri Matisse, 1947

The core work, the Jazz prints, were prepared from cut-out paper collages that Matisse produced during the Second World War and published in 1947 with the noted art publisher, Tériade. Jazz represents an important turning point in Matisse’s career, as it marks the transition from oil painting to paper cut-out collage that dominated the last years of his life. Matisse referred to this period as his ‘second life’, during which he experienced – through the medium of the paper cut-outs – a flourishing of exuberant creativity, despite his ailing health. Drawing on themes of the circus, mythology and the artist’s travels, the Jazz prints are amongst the artist’s most immediately recognisable works, and this exhibition provides a unique opportunity for South African audiences to experience them first-hand.

Henri Matisse | Rhythm and Meaning is presented by Standard Bank in partnership with the Embassy of France in South Africa, the French Institute of South Africa, and with the support of the Musée départemental Matisse du Cateau-Cambrésis, Air France, Total and Air Liquide.
Free public walkabouts hosted by art educator Wilhelm van Rensburg will take place at 13.00 and 14.00 on the following days: 13, 15, 20, 22 and 29 July; 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26 and 31 August; and 1, 7, 9, 14 and 16 September. Gallery parking can be booked with Sue Isaac 011 631 4467
Standard Bank Gallery, c/o Simmonds and Frederick Streets, Johannesburg
Tel: 011 631 4467
Dates: 13 July to 17 September 2016
Admission: Free

Opening times:

Mondays to Fridays from 8.00-16.30
Saturdays from 9.00-16.00
Sundays closed

www.standardbank.com/matisse