Japanese Mask 1950

Matisse, with scissors as his brush, cut this form from a field of color—a Japanese Mask—and what strikes me is its immediacy. It’s all in the blues and greens. See how the blue cuts dance across this mask? You sense Matisse moving around the figure, finding his way through the form. I imagine him pondering, questioning, and intuitively sensing when it was just right. Matisse was deeply interested in the ways an artist might make work without using brushes. Think of it as improvisational painting. It's as if Matisse is inviting us to witness the act of creation itself, with the flat planes of color creating a striking pattern on the surface. It's so simple, but so effective. The color, texture, surface, and the physicality of the medium, all shape our experience of the painting. The way Matisse worked with paper cut-outs influenced a whole generation of painters. Like all artists, he was in a constant dialogue with other artists, with the past, and with the future. Isn’t that neat?