Henri Matisse: The Cut Outs- Review

The exhibition at the MoMa focusing on the final decade of Matisse’s life when the famous artist adopted a new technique known as the cut outs due to his decaying state. The Cut-outs exhibitions pay particular attention to the process the artist used to create beautiful pieces that each tell a unique story. With help of his assistants Matisse redefined the beauty of simplicity by creating immensely eye catching figures with pins, glue, paper, and gouache. As you enter the exhibit you can see what he pointed out to be his first sustained cut out project Jazz. The compilation was meant for stencil printing, and that after their publication Matisse expressed his great disappointment on the final product due their flatness. This may be considered as the beginning of Matisse’s Cut Out period, that moment motivated matisse to see pass the simplicity of the materials and to see the cut outs as an independent medium and less as means to an end. The Exhibit emphasizes on the cautious planning that the artist went through to reach all of his final pieces. The pins though not usually shown in final pieces are without a doubt the most important part in the whole making process, since Matisse worked on what he called a “Composition Card Game” and the pins were what made the shift of colors and shapes from place to place possible.Through reexamination of his compositions and colors Matisse succeeded on creating state of complete balance that give his pieces their great a distinct feeling. As you walk through the huge spaces dedicated to the final years of the artist life you can see a mix of media from videos of how the artist worked with help of his assistants to the planning of huge murals and small composition. The Cut Outs exhibit at the MoMA show growth through process and his ability to create small and big but all great pieces.