Object number1954.2.14
The Cowboy (Jazz Portfolio, 1943-44)
Date1947
Artist
Henri Matisse
(French, 1869-1954)
CultureFrench
MediumPochoir (stencil)
Edition85/100
DimensionsSheet: 16 9/16 x 25 9/16 in. (42 x 65 cm)
Support: 22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm)
Matted: 23 7/8 x 33 7/8 in. (60.6 x 86 cm)
Support: 22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm)
Matted: 23 7/8 x 33 7/8 in. (60.6 x 86 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, 3rd (Blanchette Hooker, class of 1931)
On View
Not on viewPeriod20th c
Classification(s)
SignedSigned (on frontispiece): H. Matisse
InscribedInscribed (on frontispiece): 85/100
Vassar Exhibitions
Exhibition HistoryPoughkeepsie, New York, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, "A Taste for the Modern: Gifts from Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller, Edna Bryner Schwab, and Virginia Herrick Deknatel," June 24 - September 4, 2011.Label TextIn the last decade of his life, Matisse moved away from painting due to his declining health and recovery from a major surgery, instead pursuing paper-cutting as an art form. Working with scissors and sheets of gouache-painted paper, he cut various organic and geometric shapes and arranged them into dynamic compositions. These cut-outs became prototypes for Jazz (1947), the only book both written and illustrated by the artist. To remain faithful to Matisse’s original colors, the publisher employed pochoir, a meticulous stencil printing technique using the same vivid colors the artist and his assistants had applied by hand. Jazz features twenty brilliant prints accompanied by over seventy pages of the artist’s handwritten reflections. Matisse noted that “Jazz is rhythm and meaning,” linking the process of making visual art to musical improvisation. The subjects range from childhood memories and travel experiences to circus and music hall scenes unique to this portfolio, motifs that rarely appear elsewhere in his work. Le Cow-boy was likely inspired by Buffalo Bill’s famous Wild West show. Two abstracted black figures stand boldly against a simplified geometric backdrop of colorful stripes—a cowboy atop a rearing horse, lasso outstretched toward a female figure. The deep hues of the figures contrast dramatically with the striped background.
DescriptionOne of 20 plates in a portfolio (1954.2.1-.20). Printed by Teriade Editeur for Editions Verve.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
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