Vintage 1983 Matisse French Gallery Exhibition Poster

A 1983 Musée Bibliothèque René Char exhibition poster featuring the work of Henri Matisse. 

17 3/4" x 25 1/8"

Along with Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse was one of the pillars of the Parisian avant-garde, whose innovations in painting would dominate much of modern art. Matisse initially worked in law, but discovered a passion for art when he began painting as an amateur. He went on to study traditional academic painting. In the early years of the twentieth century, however, he rejected the idea that painting had to imitate the appearance of nature. His characteristic innovations were the use of vibrant, arbitrary colors; bold, autonomous brushstrokes; and a flattening of spatial depth.

Matisse considered his drawing to be a very intimate means of expression and favored subjects such as the female figure or still-life. Often these drawings were made to inform his paintings and sculptures; therefore, he felt that these drawings should be quick, gestural exercises to capture the form and emotion evoked in him by the subject.