Page 49 - Studio International - July-August 1969

The sculpture

of Matisse

William Tucker

The Serpentine 1909
Bronze
Height 22¼ in.
2
Head of Jeannette III 1910
Bronze
Height 23¾ in.

The small size of Matisse's sculptures, their to regard Matisse as a minor sculptor because central tradition of monumental sculpture in-
traditional material, technique and imagery, of a shortfall in ambition,2 or to compare his herited from Rodin : his approaches to both
the inconsistencies of ambition and style in achievement, as if it were of the same order, Rodin and Bourdelle for advice and instruc-
work of different periods, the lack of a central with that of Brancusi and others who delibera- tion suggest this. Both The jaguar and The serf
thread or theme in the sculpture itself, make tely set out to create a specifically modern were conceived fully three-dimensionally and
it hard to evaluate his contribution to modern sculpture.3 Matisse's ambition and achieve- worked on continuously in the presence of the
sculpture. Superficially the bronzes appear ment in sculpture cannot be separated from model (in contrast to later sculptures, as will
to have little to say in terms of recent tenden- the main current of his activity in painting. be shown) ; indicating the desire to accept the
cies in sculpture,' in comparison with the Sculpture was for him an exploratory, rather challenge of a purely volumetric art, the
much-celebrated influence of the papiers than a monumental activity, supplementary recreation of an existent reality in terms of a
découpés. However, the Victor Waddington to painting, the development of which personal interpretation of a received tradition
exhibition is significant in that it brings dictated the direction of his sculptural of monumental sculpture. Work on these two
together a group of pieces largely unfamiliar energies and interests at certain crucial pieces must have provided continuity and
in this country, including several key sculp- periods. He himself was specific about the stability at a time when Matisse was trying out
tures, and one hopes it may lead to a re- relation between his painting and his sculp- a variety of styles and influences in painting.
consideration of the relevance of this aspect ture: 'I took up sculpture because what However the emergence of a personal painting
of his work today. interested me in painting was a clarification style, with the final release of colour from
Matisse completed some seventy sculptures of my ideas. I changed my method, and imitation of nature, and increasing control
in his lifetime, almost all in the two main worked in clay in order to have a rest from and daring in the ordering of the flat surface,
periods of work 1899-1911 and 1922-1930. painting, where I had done absolutely all I meant that sculpture would in general have
With the exception of one carving all the could do for the time being. That is to say it to play a part in defining and forwarding
sculptures were cast in bronze from clay was done for the purposes of organization, to Matisse's ambition in painting, rather than
originals. Many of the pieces are less than put order into my feelings, and find a style to function separately, in terms of the central
twelve inches in any one direction; all, with suit me. When I found it in sculpture, it tradition in which he had prepared himself.
the exception of The serf, the Decorative figure helped me in my painting. It was always in By temperament Matisse was thoughtful and
of 1908, the large Seated nude of 1925, and The view of a complete possession of my mind, a deliberate in conception, rapid in execution.
back reliefs, are less than twenty-four inches. sort of hierarchy of all my sensations, that His training apart, the directness of painting
Yet Matisse put in an enormous quantity of I kept working in the hope of finding an as an activity, the neutrality of the canvas as
time and effort into the larger pieces, some- ultimate method.' an area on which to realise his sensations,
times working for several hours daily on one It is possible that Matisse at the period during suited him better than the laborious prelimin-
sculpture over a period of years—longer than which he was consciously acquiring the funda- ary physical processes involved in making
on any single painting. mentals of sculpture by making the para- large clay models, the difficulty of making
It seems inadequate in view of this paradox— phrase of Barye's Jaguar (1899-1901), and major structural changes, the problems of
the time and effort put into the work in The serf (1900-1903), in fact entertained the support while the work is in progress, the
relation to the apparently modest results— possibility that he might himself develop the necessity of casting—of all those resistances in