Henri Matisse and goldfish

Last updated

Henri Matisse, 1913, photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn.jpg
Goldfish Matisse.jpg
Henri Matisse in 1913 and his 1912 Goldfish painting

French visual artist Henri Matisse was known for his use of color and draughtsmanship. In the early 20th century, Matisse became a leader of the Fauvism art movement, which was an early movement in the broader Post-impressionist era.

Contents

After a trip to Morocco in 1912 Matisse employed goldfish in aquariums as a motif in his art. While retaining the use of color which he is notable for, Matisse included goldfish in various still life scenarios, often as a feature found in depictions of his various studios rather than the focus of pieces.

The motif would be present in Matisse's art mostly during the early and mid-1910s, but also in the 1920s. Most of these pieces were oil on canvas still life paintings, but Matisse would produce etchings, drawings, and prints featuring the motif in 1929.

Art historians have commented that Matisse's works featuring goldfish explore the themes of contemplation, tranquility, and pictorial space, with Matisse configuring complex arrangements for the latter. The aquariums the goldfish swim around in function as a metaphor for the studio.

Background

Arab Coffeehouse, 1912-1913, depicts Matisse's encounters in Morocco Henri Matisse, 1912-13, Le cafe Maure (Arab Coffeehouse), oil on canvas, 176 x 210 cm, Hermitage Museum.jpg
Arab Coffeehouse , 1912–1913, depicts Matisse's encounters in Morocco

In the first two decades of the 20th century, Matisse visited Islamic art exhibitions. He also traveled to Algeria and Morocco, collecting pottery, textiles, and tiles. [1] In 1909, Matisse moved from Paris to nearby Issy-les-Moulineaux to escape Parisian pressures. [2] He portrayed his Issy studio in The Red Studio (L'Atelier Rouge), a 1911 oil on canvas painting considered one of the most influential pieces of modern art by experts. [3] [4] The studio would be often depicted in Matisse's goldfish paintings that would follow.

In January 1912, Matisse visited Tangier in Morocco, where he stayed through April. [2] While there, Matisse noted how the locals were drawn to watching goldfish swim around in bowls. Matisse admired the "relaxed and contemplative" lifestyle Moroccans had, a view shared with other Europeans who visited North Africa, according to Smarthistory. [2] Previously in 1908, Matisse wrote that he dreamed of:

an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art that could be [...] a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair that provides relaxation from fatigue. [5]

Goldfish era

Zorah on the Terrace, 1912-13 Zorah on the Terrace.jpg
Zorah on the Terrace , 1912–13

Goldfish became a frequently recurring motif in Matisse's art from 1912 to 1915. [lower-alpha 1] Sculptures, flowers, and windows were also common motifs found in Matisse's goldfish paintings. [4] The 1910s decade was "an extremely reflective period of his career when new spatial configurations were explored," and found Matisse using Cubist devices "for his illusionary ends, so as to paradoxically suggest enclosure." [4]

After returning to Issy from his trip to Morocco, Matisse produced a series of nine paintings during the spring and early summer of 1912, of which Goldfish was included. Unlike his other paintings featuring the titular animals, this painting featured the goldfish as its focus. [2] Goldfish and Sculpture was also painted in this spring–summer 1912 period. [7] This painting features his Reclining Nude from 1907, now taking on "the peachy skin tone of an imagined Caucasian model." [8] Matisse also produced the piece, Studio with Goldfish (L'Atelier aux poissons rouges), dated May–end of September 1912. [9]

Matisse would later depict his experience visiting Morocco in Arab Coffeehouse (Le café Maure) (1912–13). [2] A companion piece, Zorah on the Terrace portrays a woman gazing at fish. In both Arab Coffeehouse and Zorah on the Terrace figure their subjects "in an attitude of profound attention." [4]

In 1914, he produced Interior with a Goldfish Bowl, [lower-alpha 2] which has a notable use of blue color. [10] Goldfish with Palette, dated November 1914–spring 2015, was also made during this period. [11] These two pieces were painted at Matisse's studio at 19, quai Saint-Michel. [12]

Woman Before an Aquarium, 1921-1923 Woman Before an Aquarium.jpg
Woman Before an Aquarium, 1921–1923

Goldfish would again appear in Matisse's work in the following decade, such as in The Goldfish Bowl (winter 1921–22). [13] Now living in Nice by this point, Matisse employed a particular interest in sunlight streaming in from a window in this piece. [13] Young Woman before an Aquarium (Jeune fille devant un aquarium) was also painted during this time, between September 1921 and February 1922. [14] A similar Woman before an Aquarium painting (dated 1921–1923), included elements Matisse encountered in his trips to North Africa. [1] The interior scene includes a decorative patterned textile screen. [1]

In 1929, Matisse once again included goldfish in his art. He produced a variety of drawings and prints featuring the motif. [4] In November, he produced a series of ten etchings featuring a female head looking at a goldfish bowl. [15] While working on the series, Matisse sketched directly onto small, hand-held copper plates. [15] For many of the sketches, Matisse employed a chine-collé printmaking technique. [16] [17] [18]

Themes and analysis

Interior with a Goldfish Bowl, 1914 Henri Matisse, 1914, Les poissons rouges (Interior with a Goldfish Bowl), oil on canvas, 147 x 97 cm, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.jpg
Interior with a Goldfish Bowl, 1914

The goldfish motif has been connected to theme of contemplation. Noted to be aware of this theme, Matisse once remarked to Marcel Sembat, "those big devils, there for hours, contemplative, before a flower and some red fish." [4] On Goldfish and Palette, this "artistic meditation is stressed, as the Moroccans' gaze becomes likened to the artist's own reflections on artistic containment." [4] Goldfish also came to symbolize a tranquil and serene state of mind that he perceived the Moroccans to have, which he admired, [2] [5] as well as a "paradise lost". [2] Appealing for "contemplative relaxation for the viewer" was a major theme in Matisse's work found in Goldfish. [2]

Pictorial space and its configuration is also a common theme found in the goldfish paintings. [2] [4] Goldfish had a "complex construction of pictorial space." [2] The arrangement of Interior with a Goldfish Bowl "underscores Matisse's interest in windows as passageways between interior and exterior spaces." [12] Matisse's studio is often found in the goldfish paintings, and the goldfish swimming around in aquariums has been viewed as a metaphor for the studio. [2] Kate Linker of Artforum wrote that implicit features "in these studios" are extended to other spaces, elaborating that "the spaces in Matisse's paintings are not generally organized by formal coherence or design, but in a symbolic manner, using repetitions of shape and hue, thematic analogies or pictorial effects to enforce, or embody, their meaning." [4]

Linker also wrote that:

The roundness of The Red Studio returns us to the goldfish bowl, to which the painting bears clear affinities. If the bowl functions as a metaphor for space and for the artwork in its role of spatial summation, then The Red Studio can be regarded as its analogue." [4]

In 2022, Broadsheet commented on Interior with a Goldfish Bowl, writing that the piece has "a special resonance for the contemporary viewer," and calling it "a really rewarding work to look at in the age of [COVID-19], when we've all spent a little bit too long our own private space." [10]

Exhibitions and museum collections

In 2010, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York held the "Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917" exhibition. Interior with Goldfish [lower-alpha 2] and Goldfish and Palette were paired together at the exhibition. [19] Goldfish and Sculpture is also found at the MoMA. [7] As of 2022, Matisse's goldfish paintings are located in art museums throughout the world.

List of goldfish works

Paintings

Name
(French name)
YearDimensionsCityGalleryNotes
Goldfish 191257 in × 38 in.
(146 cm × 97 cm)
Moscow, Russia Pushkin Museum [6]
Goldfish and Sculpture191246 × 39 5/8 in.
(116.2 × 100.5 cm)
New York City, United States Museum of Modern Art [lower-alpha 3]
Fish Tank in the Room191282 × 93 cm Copenhagen, Denmark National Gallery of Denmark [5]
Studio with Goldfish
(L'Atelier aux poissons rouges)
191246 7/16 × 39 15/16 in.
(118 × 101.5 cm)
Philadelphia, United States The Barnes Foundation [9]
Zorah on the Terrace 1912–13116 × 100 cmMoscow, RussiaPushkin Museum [5]
Arab Coffeehouse
(Le café Maure)
1912–13176 × 210 cm St. Petersburg, Russia Hermitage Museum [lower-alpha 4]
Interior with a Goldfish Bowl
(Les poissons rouges (Intérieur, bocal de poissons rouges))
1914147 × 97 cmParis, France Centre Pompidou [lower-alpha 2]
Goldfish and Palette1914–1557 3/4 × 44 1/4 in.
(146.5 × 112.4 cm)
New York City, United StatesMuseum of Modern Art [11]
The Goldfish Bowl1921–2221 3/8 × 25 3/4 in.
(54.3 × 65.4 cm)
New York City, United States Metropolitan Museum of Art [13]
Young Woman before an Aquarium
(Jeune fille devant un aquarium)
1921–2218 1/4 × 21 5/8 in.
(46.4 × 54.9 cm)
Philadelphia, United StatesThe Barnes Foundation [14]
Woman before an Aquarium1921–2331 15/16 × 39 7/16 in.
(81.2 × 100.2 cm)
Chicago, United States Art Institute of Chicago [1]

Drawings and prints

Name
(French name)
YearMediumDimensionsCityGalleryNotes
Girl with Fishbowl1929EtchingPlate: 3 5/8 × 4 7/8 in. (9.21 x 12.38 cm)
Sheet: 11 1/8 × 14 1/2 in. (28.26 x 36.83 cm)
Minneapolis, United States Minneapolis Institute of Art [15]
Head of a Young Girl and Two Goldfish1929Etching in black on cream wove paper laid down on ivory wove paper (chine collé)82 × 115 mm [lower-alpha 5] Chicago, United StatesArt Institute of Chicago [16]
Woman with a Fishbowl1929Etching with chine collé3 5/8 × 4 3/4 in. (9.2 × 12.1 cm)New York City, United StatesMetropolitan Museum of Art [17]
Young Woman Contemplating a Goldfish Bowl
(Jeune femme contemplant un bocal de poissons rouges)
1929Etching with chine colléPlate: 3 15/16 × 5 7/8 in.
(10 × 15 cm); sheet: 11 × 15 1/16 in.
(28 × 38.2 cm)
New York City, United StatesMuseum of Modern Art [18]

Notes

  1. Artforum [4] and the Pushkin Museum also include 1911 as part of the period in which goldfish frequently appeared in Matisse's art. [6]
  2. 1 2 3 Interior with a Goldfish Bowl is alternatively known as Interior, Goldfish Bowl [10] and Interior with Goldfish. [5] Not to be confused with Studio with Goldfish (1912), which is also alternatively called Interior with Goldfish. [5]
  3. Artforum wrote that goldfish first appeared in Matisse's art in 1911, in Goldfish and Sculpture. [4] The piece, however, is dated 1912 on its official Museum of Modern Art webpage. [7]
  4. The Smarthistory source dates this piece from 1911 to 1913, and both it and Artforum alternatively refer to Arab Coffeehouse as The Arab Café. [2] [4]
  5. The image of this piece is 82 × 115 mm, while the work has the additional dimensions: 88 × 123 mm (primary support); 90 × 125 mm (plate); 284 × 380 mm (secondary support).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Braque</span> French painter and sculptor (1882–1963)

Georges Braque was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he played in the development of Cubism. Braque's work between 1908 and 1912 is closely associated with that of his colleague Pablo Picasso. Their respective Cubist works were indistinguishable for many years, yet the quiet nature of Braque was partially eclipsed by the fame and notoriety of Picasso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Cézanne</span> French painter (1839–1906)

Paul Cézanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation and influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century, whose work formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and early 20th century Cubism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henri Matisse</span> French artist (1869–1954)

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armory Show</span> 1913 American art exhibition

The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibitions that have been held in the vast spaces of U.S. National Guard armories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rik Wouters</span> Belgian painter and sculptor

Hendrik Emil (Rik) Wouters was a Belgian painter, sculptor and draughtsman. Wouters produced 200 paintings, drawings and sculptures in his 34 years before his illness-caused death. he died partway through the First World War on 11 July 1916 in Amsterdam. A sculptor, painter, draughtsman and etcher of typically fauvist style, Wouters' art resembled the works of artists including Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne and André Derain- the "forefathers" of Fauvism.

<i>Dance</i> (Matisse) 1910 painting made by Henri Matisse

Dance (La Danse) is a painting made by Henri Matisse in 1910, at the request of Russian businessman and art collector Sergei Shchukin, who bequeathed the large decorative panel to the Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg. The composition of dancing figures is commonly recognized as "a key point of (Matisse's) career and in the development of modern painting". A preliminary version of the work, sketched by Matisse in 1909 as a study for the work, resides at MoMA in New York, where it has been labeled Dance (I).

<i>Woman with a Hat</i> Painting by Henri Matisse

Woman with a Hat is an oil-on-canvas painting by Henri Matisse. It depicts Matisse's wife, Amélie Matisse. It was painted in 1905 and exhibited at the Salon d'Automne during the autumn of the same year, along with works by André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and several other artists later known as "Fauves".

<i>The Dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room)</i> 1908 painting by Henri Matisse

The Dessert: Harmony in Red is a painting by Henri Matisse. Previously titled Harmony in Blue, the painting had a blue background when Matisse first exhibited it in 1908. In 1909, Matisse changed the blue to red, retitling it The Dessert: Harmony in Red.

<i>The Painter and His Model</i> Painting by Henri Matisse

The Painter and His Model is a work by Henri Matisse painted late 1916, early 1917. It is currently in the collection of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. In this work Matisse depicted himself in his studio on the fourth floor of 19 Quai Saint-Michel, at work on his painting Laurette in a Green Robe (1916).

<i>Zorah on the Terrace</i> Painting by Henri Matisse

Zorah on the Terrace is an oil on canvas painting by French painter Henri Matisse, created in 1912. It is in the collection of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia.

<i>Odalisque with Raised Arms</i> 1923 painting by Henri Matisse

Odalisque With Raised Arms is a painting by Henri Matisse, completed in 1923. The oil on canvas measuring 23 by 26 inches is held in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C.. Matisse's style changed and evolved drastically throughout his career, including his wide and varying collection of paintings depicting female nudes. His odalisque paintings were inspired by his trip to Morocco. Many of the female subjects in the Odalisque paintings were modeled after Matisse's main model at the time, Henriette Darricarrère.

<i>The Red Studio</i> Painting by Henri Matisse

The Red Studio is an oil on canvas painting by French artist Henri Matisse from 1911. It is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fauvism</span> Artistic style

Fauvism is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of les Fauves, a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1904 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1905–1908, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were André Derain and Henri Matisse.

<i>Le pigeon aux petits pois</i> 1911 painting by Pablo Picasso

Le pigeon aux petit pois, sometimes referred to as Dove with green peas, is a 1911 oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso. It is an example of Picasso's Cubist works and has an estimated value of €23 million. The painting was one of five artworks stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris on 20 May 2010, which together are valued at €100 million. It has so far not been recovered and its whereabouts remain unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cubist sculpture</span> Sculptures made during the Cubist art movement

Cubist sculpture developed in parallel with Cubist painting, beginning in Paris around 1909 with its proto-Cubist phase, and evolving through the early 1920s. Just as Cubist painting, Cubist sculpture is rooted in Paul Cézanne's reduction of painted objects into component planes and geometric solids; cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones. Presenting fragments and facets of objects that could be visually interpreted in different ways had the effect of 'revealing the structure' of the object. Cubist sculpture essentially is the dynamic rendering of three-dimensional objects in the language of non-Euclidean geometry by shifting viewpoints of volume or mass in terms of spherical, flat and hyperbolic surfaces.

The Piano Lesson depicts the living room of Henri Matisse's home in Issy-les-Moulineaux, with his younger son, Pierre, at the piano, the artist's sculpture Decorative Figure (1908), at bottom left, and, at upper right, his painting Woman on a High Stool. Matisse began with a naturalistic drawing, but he eliminated detail as he worked, scraping down areas and rebuilding them broad fields of color. The painting evokes a specific moment in time—light suddenly turned on in a darkening interior—by the triangle of shadow on the boy's face and the rhyming green triangle of light falling on the garden. The artist's incising on the window frame and stippling on the left side produce a pitted quality that suggests the eroding effects of light or time, a theme reiterated by the presence of the metronome and burning candle on the piano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cécile Debray</span> French museum director, art historian and curator

Cécile Debray is a French museum director, art historian and curator, specializing in modern and contemporary art in painting. She is general heritage curator, director of the Musée de l'Orangerie since 2017. She has been awarded the medal of Officier des Arts et des Lettres by France in 2018.

<i>Goldfish</i> (Matisse) 1912 painting by Henri Matisse

Goldfish is an oil-on-canvas still life painting by French visual artist Henri Matisse. Painted in 1912, Goldfish was part of a series that Matisse produced between the spring and early summer of 1912.

<i>Arab Coffeehouse</i> Painting by Henri Matisse

Arab Coffeehouse, is an oil-on-canvas painting by French visual artist Henri Matisse. Produced in 1913, Arab Coffeehouse was part of a series of goldfish paintings that Matisse produced in the 1910s and 1920s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Woman before an Aquarium". Art Institute of Chicago . Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Wilkins, Charlotte (9 August 2015). "Matisse, Goldfish". Smarthistory . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  3. "Duchamp's urinal tops art survey". BBC News. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Linker, Kate (October 1980). "Meditations on a Goldfish Bowl: Autonomy and Analogy in Matisse". Artforum . 19 (2): 65–73. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Michalska, Magda (29 December 2021). "Why Was Matisse Obsessed with Goldfish?". Daily Art Magazine. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Henri Matisse Goldfish. 1912". Pushkin Museum . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 "Henri Matisse. Goldfish and Sculpture. Issy-les-Moulineaux, spring-summer 1912". Museum of Modern Art . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  8. Routhier, Jessica Skwire (23 May 2017). "Matisse In The Studio". Antiques and the Arts Weekly . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Henri Matisse: Studio with Goldfish (L'Atelier aux poissons rouges)". The Barnes Foundation . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 Heath, Nicola (6 January 2022). "Five Matisse Artworks that Chart His Impact on Art History". Broadsheet . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Henri Matisse. Goldfish and Palette. Paris, quai Saint-Michel, late November 1914-spring 1915". Museum of Modern Art . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 "The Goldfish Bowl". The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  13. 1 2 "Young Woman before an Aquarium (Jeune fille devant un aquarium)". The Barnes Foundation . Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 "Girl with Fishbowl". Minneapolis Institute of Art . Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  15. 1 2 "Head of a Young Girl and Two Goldfish". Art Institute of Chicago . Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  16. 1 2 "Woman with a Fishbowl". The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  17. 1 2 "Henri Matisse. Young Woman Contemplating a Goldfish Bowl (Jeune femme contemplant un bocal de poissons rouges). 1929". Museum of Modern Art . Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  18. Smith, Roberta (15 July 2010). "Matisse at MoMA: Carving With Color". New York Times . Archived from the original on 21 June 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2022.