Henri Matisse: Jazz (1947)

Jazz (1947): The Swimmer in the Tank (La Nageuse dans l’aquarium) by Henri Matisse. The colours are striking, matched only by the feeling of serenity it evokes. The book contains 20 colour prints—this is one of them—each about 16 x 20 inches (41 x 66 cm). It was first issued on September 30, 1947, by art publisher Tériade of France.  As one art site puts it: “Henri Matisse’s illustrated book Jazz (1947) is one of the most famous graphic works and arguably one of the best loved artworks of the 20th century. In Matisse’s first major ‘cut-out’ project, realism and abstraction are finally reconciled at the end of a life-long tension. With the cut-out technique, Matisse felt he had finally solved the problems of form and space, outline and colour. ‘It is not a beginning, it is an endpoint’, the artist stated.”
Courtesy: MOMA; NYC