Jazz
New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1983. 1st Edition Thus. Folio, publisher's black cloth, spine stamped in red and white, upper board stamped in red, light gray endpapers, original illustrated dust jacket, original cardstock slipcase.
"With Jazz you hold an artist's spirit in your hands" (from Riva Castleman’s introduction). First facsimile edition of Henri Matisse’s lively and legendary portfolio of cutouts. Originally published in 1947 in a limited edition of 250 copies, this collection of graphic and bold collages showcases the artist’s transition from fauvism to his best-known medium. Each lively and provocative gouache découpé is loosely related to jazz, or more explicitly the very nature of abstraction itself, accompanied by poignant reflections that both embody the incipience of Matisse’s burst of creative expression after his cancer diagnosis — what he called his "second vie" — and subtly express resistance and protest against the Vichy regime and German occupation. Illustrated with color plates, along with facsimile reproductions of Matisse's illuminating and whimsically crafted handwritten notes, with accompanying English translation by Sophie Hawkes; introduction by art historian and MoMA curator Riva Castleman. Fine in unclipped dust jacket, in lightly toned and soiled original cardstock slipcase. Item #13122
$300.00