JAZZ title Page

Artist: Henri Matisse
Type: Lithograph on Paper
Year: 1983
Size: 35.5 x 27.8 cm
 
JAZZ was the first major publication of Matisse using his creative cut out technique. Completed in March 1944 for the esteemed Verve Magazine, JAZZ heralded a major change in medium and aesthetic for Matisse, for which he was forever remembered. Using a combination of fine art color lithographs and written imagery using his own hand writing in French (as we see in this title page lithograph to the deluxe book), JAZZ is a unique combination of word and image, following in the well established modern French art tradition of illustrating revered French poetry and prose. Matisse wrote at the beginning of JAZZ that he used over sized cursive writing to create "a decorative relationship with the color prints" of which this image is the perfect example.