Matisse the Master-May 2010-Book of The Month

Matisse The MasterA life of Henri Matisse
The Conquest of Colour
1909-1954

By Hilary Spurling

Alfred A. Knopf - New York 2005
www.amazon.ca


" If my story were ever to be written down truthfully from start to finished, it would amazed everyone," wrote Henri Matisse. It is hard to believe today that Matisse, whose exhibitions draw huge crowds worldwide, was once almost universally reviled and ridiculed. His response was neither to protest not to retreat; he simply pushed on from one innovation to the next, and left the world to draw its own conclusions. Unfortunately, these were generally false and often damaging. Throughout his life and afterward people fantasized his models and circulated baseless fabrications about his private life.