The Plaster Torso 1919

Editor: So, here we have Matisse's "The Plaster Torso" from 1919, done in oil paint. It's got a sort of still life feel, but with the plaster torso it feels almost like he's representing art itself as a commodity. What are your thoughts when you look at it? Curator: I'm immediately drawn to the interplay of materiality here. Look at how Matisse presents the sculpted torso – an object born of a subtractive process – juxtaposed with the applied, additive nature of the oil paint itself. It's a dialogue about modes of production. How do the manufactured elements, like the factory-made vase, contrast with handmade art like paintings? Editor: I see what you mean. The vase is so mass produced. Do you think the flowers change this or are they another commodity? Curator: The flowers complicate it, don’t they? They’re organic, yet arranged, cultivated, consumed. Notice, too, how the canvas itself – a factory-produced surface prepared with gesso – acts as the very foundation for this interplay. It underscores how so-called 'high art' relies fundamentally on industrial processes. Where do you see evidence of materiality and production that challenges our traditional categories of "art" versus "not art?" Editor: Thinking about the desk, its a well crafted piece of furniture. Does that enter into the high art/ low art discussion, then? It seems the means of producing a useful object versus art object aren't so different. Curator: Precisely. Consider, also, the artist's labor itself. Each brushstroke is a physical act, a deliberate application of pigment derived from the earth. The canvas becomes a record of this labour, a testament to the artist’s own material engagement. Editor: I hadn’t thought about the painting as labor quite that way. The whole process involves extraction, manufacturing, distribution… and that’s just to get the materials ready to become a work of art! Curator: Indeed! The "Plaster Torso" reveals the commodification inherent not only in the subjects represented, but also in the very act of painting itself.