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Wednesday 13 December 2023

Advent 13


Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was, towards the end of his life, hampered in painting due to the after-effects of an operation for abdominal cancer. In response to his infirmity he returned to a medium he had occasionally used in his early life -collage or cut-out. He would sculpt pre-painted sheets of paper and lay them out to stunning effect. He started with small compositions in this medium but graduated to much larger pieces.

Blue Nude III is from 1952's production of four studies in the cut-out method. By my count this picture is made from just six cuts of painted paper. It is what we art critics call bloody clever.  

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