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Back to Matisse's Page Reviews
McPhee’s Journey takes us from Matisse’s beginnings in Paris in 1905 to his various Summers and residences in St. Tropez, Collioure, Nice, Vence, and Cimiez, his final resting place in 1954. Stunning color photography helps give the reader a sense of the impact of the blue skies and blue water of these places on Matisse’s imagination. In the South of France, Matisse told his wife, he had found the blue he had been searching for all his life. The format of the ArtPlace series fits Matisse’s life and work perfectly as his art was so shaped and informed by his surroundings. The Terrace, St. Tropez (above), which features Madame Matisse (she of the green stripe) reading in a blue and white kimono, gives the viewer a sense of the sensual languor of the Riviera. Open Window, Collioure (below), one of the many scenes Matisse painted from his many rooms in various hotels over the years, recreates the endless joy of opening shutters onto a paradise. Maps of each location provide enough direction for a motivated pilgrim to follow Matisse’s life quite closely. Fascinating sidebars, such as the series of “muses” Matisse favored in each place as well as a wonderful piece on the debate between Matisse and Picasso over whether an artist could depict beliefs he himself does not hold (sparked by Matisse’s self-described “masterpiece,” La Chapelle du Rosaire, which McPhee brings to life masterfully), will get the traveler on the go from Metro stop to Metro stop, and beyond. If you’re packing light, this is definitely the book to stuff in your backpack. McPhee’s takes on several challenges—biography,
art history, travelogue—and handles them all in text that
is concise without being light. McPhee works within the constraints
of the format beautifully, presenting not only a full portrait of
Matisse but also a vivid sense of each place he inhabited. Hilary
Spurling’s sprawling two-volume biography of Matisse (The
Unknown Matisse and Matisse the Master) remains the epicenter of
Matisse biography, but McPhee’s book offers us a beautiful
glimpse into his colorful life in the true spirit of the master.
It’s the next best thing to going there yourself. Henri Matisse’s art, whether it be paintings, cut-outs, sculptures, or even his famous Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence (which he regarded as his masterpiece), overflows with the colors he found in Provence and on the Cote d’Azur in the South of France. Award-winning journalist Laura McPhee follows the artist as he moves from Paris to St. Tropez, Collioure, Nice, Vence, and finally Cimiez, where he lies buried. Laura McPhee’s book, A Journey into Matisse’s South of France, is part biography and part travel guide, in the excellent ArtPlace series from Roaring Forties Press. The author lives and works in Indianapolis, a long way from the blue Mediterranean and the medieval villages of Provence, where Henri Matisse spent almost all the latter part of his life. Nevertheless, she has visual style to her writing, good at evoking color and place, painting her own word pictures. “Henri Matisse spent his entire life moving southward,” she writes, “toward color and light.” She describes the “teal skies, emerald hills, red soil, and indigo seas of the Mediterranean,” where Matisse often wore dark glasses while painting for fear he might go blind by staring so long at such intense colors. Matisse’s story is also a love story, too, and the book lets us know what it must be like to be married to someone obsessed by his art. “I love you dearly,” he wrote to the woman he was about to marry in 1898, “but I shall always love painting more.” The woman, Amelie, was by his side until they eventually separated on 1939. At one stage she pawned an emerald ring (a wedding present from her mother) in order to buy Matisse a Cezanne painting he craved, because she knew how important it was to him. …The book is a thoroughly enjoyable and—to
this reader—revealing book about Matisse’s art and life.
The section on his creation of La Chapelle du Rosaire is fascinating
and moving, as he battled against old age to create what he would
regard as “my masterpiece.” With dozens of photographs
of the people and place Matisse knew, and with numerous examples
of Matisse’s paintings and other works of art, A Journey into
Matisse’s South of France is a good way to capture some of
the Provencal color and light for the coffee table, and a stimulating
read. 1053 Santa Fe Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94706 • info@roaringfortiespress.com • 510-527-5461 Copyright © 2008 Roaring Forties Press. All rights reserved.
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