Tania  Tiplady  

How  was  Matisse  influenced  in  achieving  to  be  both  an  artist  and  decorative  artist?  

 

 

In  this  essay,  I  will  be  discussing  how  Henri  Matisse  achieved  to  be  one  of  the  most  

influential  and  innovative  artists  of  the  20th  century  through  his  immense  use  of  vibrant  

colors  and  was  defined  as  both  an  artist  and  a  decorative  artist.  I  will  research  and  go  in  

depth  of  comparing  and  resembling  similarities  of  what  is  considered  fine  art  and  

decorative  art,  what  makes  the  two  so  distinguished.  This  will  also  allow  me  to  explore  

more  about  how  Matisse  was  able  to  successfully  tackle  his  career  by  adopting  a  neutral  

stand  of  what  Jane  Steinberg  has  already  stated  through  her  argument.  Throughout  his  

career,  he  was  constantly  battling  critics  and  remarks  for  being  overly  decorative  

whether  it  was  his  intentions  or  not  due  to  his  execution  of  color  and  shape.    

 

Henri  Matisse  (1869-­‐1954)  was  a  French  artist  and  a  great  

initiator  of  the  modern  art  movement.  Raised  in  a  small  industrial  

town  called  Le  Cateau-­‐Cambrésis,  he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  3  

artists,  along  side  Pablo  Picasso  and  Marcel  Duchamp  that  was  

responsible  for  significant  developments  in  painting  and  sculpture.  

With  hopes  of  becoming  a  lawyer,  he  initially  went  to  Paris  to  

study  law,  working  as  a  court  administrator  but  soon  abandoned  

his  job  and  discovered  his  appeal  for  art  in  his  early  twenty’s.    

Matisse  was  a  phenomenon  of  his  time,  as  he  strived  to  set  new  benchmarks  for  

excellence,  challenging  to  establish  norms  and  achieve  prominence  through  color.  He  

was  a  vanguard  during  the  early  twentieth  century,  where  he  led  the  way  of  promoting  

and  developing  ideas.  Although  he  was  one  of  the  main  leaders  of  Fauvism,  that  was  

formed  by  a  loose  group  of  young  French  artists  that  aroused  critics  due  to  their  daring  

progressiveness.  The  movement  did  not  continue  beyond  an  extensive  period  or  his  

expectations,  it  remained  existent,  as  they  were  referred  to  as  the  masters  of  color  and  

important  to  him  where  he  infused  the  ideas  into  his  works.  Acquiring  the  experience  

from  his  fauve  works  he  continued  to  approach  his  other  pieces  with  the  same  elements  

and  the  decline  of  the  movement  did  not  impact  his  career  immensely.  Nevertheless,  

Matisse  infused  decorative  motifs  into  purely  compositional  works  and  ushered  a  new  

Tania  Tiplady  

approach  to  art.  At  first  glance,  Matisse’s  works  has  seemingly  child  like  qualities  and  

has  an  effortless  looking  appearance.  There  is  resemblance  of  traditional  European  

painting,  even  with  his  simplistic  imagery  yet  has  always  veered  between  abstract  and  

realistic  styles.  He  lacked  that  cultivating  upper  class,  but  he  attended  the  prestigious  

École  des  Beaux-­‐Arts  in  Paris  for  only  two  years  as  he  felt  the  artistic  differences  with  

the  teachers  were  becoming  too  extensive  and  was  not  optimistic  about  how  he  was  

taught.  He  was  extremely  generous  in  color,  often  applying  quite  rich  brush  strokes  that  

gave  off  heavy  texture  and  never  went  the  conventional  way  to  paint.  He  did  not  mix  

with  white  or  black,  as  he  wanted  the  colors  to  be  as  pure  and  organic  as  possible.    

He  painted  a  lot  of  human  figures  in  a  decorative  element;  he  was  very  fond  of  women.    

 

Firstly,  how  do  we  even  begin  to  define  Fine  art?  It  is  somewhat  freely  defined  as  work  

that  embodies  much  experience,  ability  and  skills  to  tackle  a  technique  in  a  beautiful  

manner  that  is  often  extremely  on  the  costly  side.  Inevitably,  art  is  subjective  and  will  

always  be  a  complex  topic,  as  it  is  difficult  to  consider  other  perspectives  because  our  

own  perspective  is  the  easiest  to  rely  on.  To  some  extent,  anything  could  be  considered  

art,  but  Fine  art  had  that  expectation  of  a  certain  depth.  He  was  very  passionate  about  

his  art,  and  wanted  to  translate  his  happiness  through  intense  color.  He  had  intensions  

for  every  detail  as  it  wasn’t  just  simply  because  it  looked  appealing.    

 

On  the  other  hand,  decorative  art  is  generally  created  to  have  no  other  function  besides  

being  seen.  It  is  a  commodity  in  the  markets,  hence  why  raising  the  value  increases  the  

prestige  and  luxury  of  the  item.  Thus  why  nowadays,  the  more  aesthetically  pleasing  it  is  

the  more  people  are  attracted  to  buy  it  for  its  beauty.  There  is  no  meaningful  motive  

behind  this,  and  if  often  reproduced  to  be  sold  in  large  quantities,  deriving  it’s  quality.      

 

Paul  Gauguin  (1848–1903)  had  a  huge  influence  on  Matisse,  though  there  is  no  

statement  to  evident  this  is  accurate,  the  two  shared  common  friends  and  there  are  

obvious  resemblance  seen  in  both  their  works.  Gauguin’s  works  were  done  mainly  in  the  

Polynesian  islands  and  Tahiti,  where  he  painted  native  women  relaxing  on  the  beach  or  

nature,  using  bright  colors,  such  as  “When  will  you  marry”  (1892),  which  was  his  first  

piece  he  painted  with  his  arrival  in  Tahiti.    

 

Tania  Tiplady  

In  1905,  Matisse  painted  Le  Bonheur  de  Vivre  (The  joy  of  

life),  showcases  hints  of  Gauguin’s  style  as  the  piece  

speculates  a  hidden  meaning  for  a  mythological  world,  

specifically  Arcadia  that  refers  to  a  Greek  pastoralism  and  

harmony  with  nature.  The  piece  emphasizes  how  beautiful  

this  paradise  of  a  world  is,  with  the  subjects  of  naked  women  

lounging  on  the  grass,  dancers,  lovers,  and  pipe  players  with  the  scenic  mountains  in  the  

background.  It  seems  like  everyone  is  displaying  a  different  aspect  of  joy  in  life.  The  

characteristics  and  color  combinations  of  Matisse  and  Gauguin  is  clearly  visible,  a  

decade  later.    

 

Despite  the  fact  that  Matisse  undoubtedly  marked  a  turning  point  in  history  of  modern  

art,  he  was  no  child  prodigy  like  Pablo  Picasso,  as  he  developed  an  interest  for  art  at  the  

age  of  21  but  gradually  devoted  his  time  in  color,  light  and  space  to  create  the  perfect  

harmonious  pieces.  He  had  a  pictorial  perspective;  he  mixed  art  and  decorative  art  

together  thus  why  it  is  evident  that  he  was  both  an  artist  and  a  decorative  artist.    

 

How  Matisse  was  both  fine  art  and  decorate  art,  as  Jane  states  “the  two  coincide  in  

Matisse’s  works”  as  he  made  more  than  just  paintings  itself.  He  in  cooperated  a  lot  of  

pattern,  which  would  refer  back  to  design,  for  generations  his  family  had  been  involved  

with  a  textiles  industry  in  Northern  France,  hence  where  the  influence  came  from  as  

well  as  collecting  pieces  of  fabric  for  personal  liking  over  the  years  and  had  a  big  impact  

on  his  art.  His  first  exhibition  ‘Fabric  of  dreams’  established  his  fascination  with  textiles,  

displaying  a  range  of  paintings  and  drawings  alongside  his  personal  collection  of  fabrics  

over  the  years.  The  way  Matisse  could  integrate  color  was  similar  to  the  process  of  

manufacturing  printed  fabrics,  there  was  a  sense  of  an  innate  decorative  which  attracted  

critics  throughout  his  career  hence  the  uncertainty  of  what  sort  of  art  he  was.    

 

 

From  my  source,  she  states  that  in  the  Blue  Nude  series  it  is  apparent  

that  the  differing  edges  and  marks  of  Matisse’s  hand  on  some  of  the  cut  

outs  make  it  more  artistic  whilst  others  seem  purely  decorative.  The  

Museum  of  Modern  Art  claims  that  the  “cut-­‐outs  culminated  in  highly  original  series  of  

Tania  Tiplady  

works  made  of  paper  continued  his  reputation  with  Picasso  as  one  of  the  major  artists  of  

the  20th  century”,  this  clearly  shows  their  relationship  and  how  they  influenced  each  

other  but  emerged  and  approached  in  opposite  ways.  Pablo  Picasso  (1881-­‐1973)  a  

Spanish  painter  usually  worked  form  his  imagination  and  focused  primarily  on  one  idea.  

Unlike  Matisse  where  he  promoted  the  sense  of  purity  and  equality,  Picasso  leaned  more  

towards  paroxysm  of  inner  aggression.  

It  is  considered  art  because  of  his  marks  that  makes  it  one  of  a  kind,  however  it  too  is  

decorative  as  it  looses  its  effect  when  presents  as  a  poster  that  can  be  

reproduced.  During  the  1940’s,  Matisse  concentrated  on  art  and  decoration,  

specifically  cut  outs  due  to  having  stomach  cancer,  which  confined  him  in  a  

wheelchair  restricting  him  from  painting  on  an  easel.  Where  he  then  focused  

on  cut  outs  using  scissors,  choosing  it  over  painting  but  considered  it  as  

painting  with  scissors  and  became  one  of  his  major  exhibitions  that  later  on  

were  used  to  create  designs.  It  was  nothing  new  to  him,  as  he  was  a  

descendant  of  generations  of  weavers  linking  back  to  his  affiliation  with  

textiles  where  he  would  often  use  pins  and  cut  fabric.      

 

The  cut  out’s  was  his  final  phase  of  his  artistic  

venture  and  his  culmination  to  success,  

showcasing  over  100  cut  outs  and  body  of  

works.  The  current  exhibition,  which  is  held  in  

The  Museum  of  Modern  Art  (MoMA)  in  New  

York  is  a  good  chance  for  the  public  to  savor  the  

remains  of  the  cut  outs  that  reflects  his  commitment  with  color,  alongside  his  other  

masterpieces  of  drawings,  stained  glass  and  paintings.  In  1948,  he  was  commissioned  to  

create  all  the  wall  decorations  for  the  Chapel  of  the  Rosary  in  Vence,  including  the  

stained  glass  windows,  altar  clothes,  and  furniture,  which  crowned  the  achievement  of  

his  career.  Especially  since  the  public  noticed  this  monument,  acknowledging  the  

ground  breaking  art  he  produced  during  his  5  decades.  However,  the  debate  still  ligers  

whether  he  was  more  than  just  an  artist,  but  fact  still  remains  he  crated  some  

outstanding’s  pieces  and  with  a  new  medium,  leaving  a  vivid  glory.    

 

 

Tania  Tiplady  

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse  

 

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/highlights/highlight106384.html  

 

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/63904/steinberg_jane_2009

.pdf?sequence=1  

 

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mati/hd_mati.htm  

 

https://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1469  

 

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gaug/hd_gaug.htm  

 

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2005/matisse-­‐textiles  

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso  

 

http://www.tate.org.uk/context-­‐comment/blogs/two-­‐masters-­‐one-­‐friendship-­‐story-­‐ma

tisse-­‐and-­‐picasso  

 

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2014/matisse/