In 1941 the Swiss art critic Pierre Courthion interviewed Henri Matisse while the artist was in bed recovering from a serious operation. It was an extensive interview, seen at the time as a vital assessment of Matisse's career and set to be published by Albert Skira's then newly established Swiss press. After months of complicated discussions between Courthion and Matisse, and just weeks before the book was to come out-the artist even had approved the cover design-Matisse suddenly refused its publication. A typescript of the interview now resides in Courthion's papers at the Getty Research Institute.; This rich conversation, conducted during the Nazi occupation of France, is published for the first time in this volume, where it appears both in English translation and in the original French version. Matisse unravels memories of his youth and his life as a bohemian student in Gustave Moreau's atelier. He recounts his experience with collectors, including Alfred Barnes. He discusses fame, writers, musicians, politicians, and, most fascinatingly, his travels. Chatting with Henri Matisse, introduced by Serge Guilbaut, contains a preface by Claude Duthuit, Matisse's grandson, and essays by Yve-Alain Bois and Laurence Bertrand Dorleac. The book includes unpublished correspondence and other original documents related to Courthion's interview and abounds with details about avant-garde life, tactics, and artistic creativity in the first half of the twentieth century.

About the Author
Serge Guilbaut, a professor of art history at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, writes extensively on modern and contemporary art.

Reviews
"Full of reminiscences, apercus, and surprising revelations from the master."--ARTnews "[Chatting with Henri Matisse] sheds light on [Matisse's] process and his approach to color."--ArtInfo "[A] comprehensively contextualised restoration of this rare and uninhibited testimonial, emerging from a moment that Matisse correspondingly called his 'resurrection' from near-death."-- Burlington Magazine "[These interviews] give valuable insight into a major artist who was not only a painter but a sculptor, set designer and maker of memorable cut-paper collages."--South China Morning Post "An extensive interview in which Henri Matisse freely shares his thoughts on everything from drawing to depression."--Guardian "This important book provides great insight into Matisse as an artist and individual, as well as into [Courthion's] interviewing and editing process."--Publishers Weekly


Awards
Commended for Independent Publisher Book Awards (Fine Art) 2014.



Book Information
ISBN 9781606061299
Author Henri Matisse
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint Getty Publications
Publisher Getty Trust Publications
Weight(grams) 666g
Dimensions(mm) 250mm * 150mm * 15mm