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Matisse’s Final Artistic Legacy

A compendium of his revolutionary late-period work, plus a flawless facsimile of Jazz

This two-volume edition includes a perfect facsimile of Matisse's seminal cut-out work. Jazz, the legendary album of twenty color prints with calligraphic text, recognized as a masterpiece among artist books of the 20th century.

The reputation of Henri Matisse (1869–1954) as the most important artist of the modern era is rivaled only by Picasso—who himself said, "All things considered, there is only Matisse." Towards the end of his monumental career as a painter, sculptor, and lithographer, an elderly, sickly Matisse was unable to stand and use a paintbrush for a longer period of time. In this late phase of his life – he was almost 80 years of age – he developed the technique of creating brightly colored paper cut-outs. These gouaches decoupées (gouache cut-outs) represented a revolution in modern art, yet their simplicity was dismissed by many critics as the folly of a senile old man. Later critics realized that Matisse had found a brilliant solution to the age-old conflict between line and color—one that would profoundly influence generations of artists to come.

Printed on paper similar to the 1947 edition, the facsimile volume allows readers to experience Jazz in its original, unbound form.

• Printed in 18 colors on a small offset press, 4 pages at a time, to obtain the highest fidelity to the original
• Printed on Old Mill in 190 g/m² from Italian paper mill Fedrigoni. This paper is of archival quality and has a felt-like softness, much like handmade paper
• As with the original, this reprint is unbound and folded in signatures of 4 pages. It is protected by a French folded jacket and a hard-backed cover

The second volume provides a thorough historical context to Matisse's cut-outs, tracing their roots in his 1930 trip to Tahiti, through to his final years in Nice. Also included are other pivotal works from his later career, including his contributions to Verve magazine and his exquisite decoration of the Vence Chapel. Includes rare and historic photographs by Matisse taken in Tahiti, as well as photos of Matisse by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï, and the filmmaker Murnau. The text is supplemented by quotations from Matisse, Picasso, E. Tériade (the publisher of Jazz and Verve), the poets Louis Aragon, Henri Michaux, and Pierre Reverdy, and Matisse's son-in-law, Georges Duthuit.

About the authors:
Gilles Néret (1933–2005) was an art historian, journalist, writer and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L'Œil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. His TASCHEN titles include Salvador Dalí: The Paintings, Matisse, and Erotica Universalis.

Xavier-Gilles Néret is a teacher of Philosophy in the region of Paris. Like his father Gilles Néret he is passionate about philosophy, as well as poetry and art. He has been working on the figures who unite these disciplines, notably Stéphane Mallarmé. He is also interested in less known figures such as the poet Claude Tarnaud or the artists Barnard Saby and Pascal Doury, on which he has published books and articles.