Last Works of Henri Matisse

Matisse 'Cut-Outs' Lithographs

Following illness in 1941, Matisse increasingly began to devote his efforts to his newly invented method of composition, cut-paper collages (“cut-outs”), which became the focus of his work until his death in 1954. Matisse would use scissors to cut from sheets of paper painted in different colours by his assistants, forming shapes which he would then combine to create striking compositions. Following the publication of “Jazz” in 1947, a series of stencil prints after cut-outs inspired by the circus, Matisse, over the following five years, would go on to create increasingly ambitious and elaborate cut-outs including perhaps his most identifiable work, the “Blue Nudes” (1950-52).

Dernières Oeuvres de Matisse (The Last Works of Matisse)

In the final year of his life he oversaw the production of 39 colour lithographs, some of which included a printed signature signed in the original plate, to be printed at the Mourlot Studio, Paris for a limited edition of Verve which was completed and published after his death in 1958, from which these lithographs originate. 

This original Verve edition occupies a singular position; it is the only published edition created with the Matisse's direct participation and approval. No later edition benefited from the artist's supervision.