Drawings: Themes and Variations [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Lovers of fine drawings and of Matisse should definitely add this book to their collections. Dover has reprinted a volume originally published in Paris in 1943 as a series of loose portfolios. The drawings were done by Matisse from spring 1941 to summer 1942, and comprise a thematically and technically linked suite lettered from A to P. Each set consists of a "theme" drawing done in heavily reworked charcoal, accompanied by a series of "variations" executed in ink, pencil, or crayon. The subjects are elegantly dressed women (mostly his model, Lydia Delectorskaya) and arrangements of flowers and fruit. These subjects are interwoven to create a stunning tapestry of draughtsmanship, suggestive of a timeless realm of beauty bathed in the brilliant light of the Cote d'Azur. Despite the order of the drawings, they may be examined by the reader as he or she pleases, but I find that viewing the book in chronological sequence produces the sensation of viewing a filmstrip. The rapid execution of many of the drawings creates a sensation of overlapping moments, an illusion of shifting time which almost places you in Matisse's mind as the works were made. I would have given this book 5 stars (for the art alone), but the editors made two mistakes: first, they omitted the introductory text written by Louis Aragon, and second, the bulk of the drawings are reproduced horizontally, which makes the book somewhat difficult to use (the original edition, which was unbound did not have this problem). Also, the cover design is less than inspired. Otherwise, this is a necessary addition to any art library, especially since the original edition of this book is quite rare.

French Artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) just got better as he got older. Never as fluent a talent as his rival Picasso, Matisse instead worked for a lifetime to achieve an unparalleled immediacy and spontaneity in his art. Personally, the 1940s were difficult years for Matisse: He witnessed the fall of France to the Nazi legions and separated from his wife permanently in 1940, and in 1941 he developed a case of serious intestinal cancer. The operation nearly killed him and left him a semi-invalid for the remaining 13 years of his life. The "Themes and Variations" suite, begun in September 1941 and completed in March 1942, may be his most important sustained meditation on the art and philosophy of the line. Although Matisse is best remembered as an absolute master of color, line in fact forms the vital substructure of his investigation into the nature of reality and of vision. This volume - now sadly out-of-print and very hard to find - makes available to the public all 168 images produced in the suite. The subjects are familiar, even traditional - still lives, arrangements of flowers and fruit, seated female

figures - but the method is extraordinary. As in the notebooks of Leonardo or Picasso's 1930s Vollard Suite, Matisse approaches drawing as an intellectual act. Each group of drawings begins with the "theme" - a heavily-reworked charcoal - and continues with the "variation" - anywhere from 3 to 16 treatments of the same basic image done in pen-and-ink (for the most part) or conte crayon (rarely). Each "theme" treats the friable medium of charcoal as the equivalent of oil paint; although the final image is composed of a few simple lines, Matisse achieves volume and depth through the pentimenti left behind by previous versions which were erased in the search for the simplest form. In some cases, the effect of the multiple erasures creates an uncanny sense of movement and the passage of time, as in time-lapse or superimposition photography. The "variations,"on the other hand, offer a different perspective. Most people have very little idea just how difficult pen-and-ink drawing really is - one mistake, one hesitation, a single error in judgment, and all is ruined. The "variations" here are truly masterful. One's eyes are literally dazzled by the fluency, spontaneity and immediacy of Matisse's line and his ability to create planar space and the illusion of color in images that lack conventional shading. The method itself is nearly Chinese or ancient Egyptian - a search for eternal forms below the surface of reality. Yet reality itself is a shifting surface in these drawings - Matisse changes angles, poses, and linear weights constantly, emphasizes a different aspect of the basic composition, zooms in for a close-up or out for a wide-angle view, and even alters the format from vertical to horizontal and back again. In the drawings which examine human subjects (mostly his favorite models Lydia Delectorskaya and the beautiful Turkish princess Nezy Chawkat), the appearance of the models also shifts, from near-portraiture to abstract signs and back again (seen for instance here in the lovely juxtaposition of the last drawing of the M series with the "theme"of the P series; one is an utterly simple portrait of Madame Lydia done in graphite, the other is a monumental charcoal of the same woman, her features now reduced to a blank oval). Logically, most of us know that "reality" is ever-changing - the lessons of particle physics teach us that what we see as discrete objects are just vibrating energies held in suspension - but intellectually, most of us refuse this knowledge, preferring instead to live in a world of solid, eternal, unchanging forms. Line - a basic human invention which exists itself nowhere in nature - separates forms and planes, cutting space into separate objects and providing a border to nature's endless flow. Thus, Matisse's technique uses the most basic instrument of recording reality to 'recode" the world instead. Each "variation" seems to make a final statement, yet there is always another perspective, another angle, another shift in viewpoint. In some instances - like the famous "F" series, in which the model appears to slowly awaken from a dream - the effect Matisse creates is cinematic, suggestive of the passage of time. In this reviewer's opinion, the suite is the most intellectual and abstract linear investigation of reality in the 20th century and demonstrates that the image can be just as philosophical as the word. This fine book itself is a mini-masterpiece - the drawings are superbly reproduced and the constant shift in format from vertical to horizontal forces the reader to physically engage with each image. As with the best Dover publications, the binding is secure and the book may be consulted frequently without falling apart. Why this important volume is out-of-print is a mystery to me, for no art library can be considered complete without it. Available through dealers of rare books, and usually for a price of not less than $100, but worth every penny to the right person. A must-have.