Interior with Black Fern 1948

Editor: We're looking at Matisse's "Interior with Black Fern," painted in 1948. It's an oil painting brimming with vibrant colors and bold patterns. The combination is rather overwhelming! What do you make of it? Curator: It's precisely that overwhelming quality we must investigate. The sheer materiality screams for attention, doesn’t it? Notice the textures - how the application of the oil paint contributes as much to the subject as its likeness does. Forget what is 'real'; what interests me are the means of its making, and by implication its existence in commerce. What kind of industry did this art support, what labor was involved? Editor: So you are not looking at what is literally depicted in the painting? Curator: I see through representation. I’m thinking about how the materials—the canvas, the oil paint, the brushes—were produced, distributed, and ultimately consumed in the act of making this artwork. This seemingly simple interior scene becomes a node in a network of production. Editor: The black fern looks almost like it's screen-printed on top, that flat color... but then the bright colours speak to the Fauvist style. Curator: Precisely! Matisse is challenging the distinction between ‘high art’ and what might traditionally be seen as ‘decorative arts,’ blurring those lines and prompting us to reconsider the value and labor embedded in all forms of making. What’s more is it also opens up discussion on production methods across the marketplace for home decoration. Editor: I see what you mean! It shifts my understanding of the painting from a decorative domestic scene to a much wider landscape of artistic and commercial practice. Curator: Exactly. We are dealing with far more than just pleasant wallpaper: we are looking at an industry. Editor: That's such a useful way of reinterpreting familiar paintings. Thanks! Curator: A pleasure. Always remember to dig into the guts of making to extract significance!