Exhibitions
Events
On display
Matisse’s Jazz: Hidden in Full View
Talk
Past event
Philip Carter Family Auditorium
Free
Dr Rodney T. Swan describes how French artist Henri Matisse used his revolutionary cut-out technique to create Jazz, one of the best-known illustrated books of the twentieth century. Rodney will reveal the coded messages that Matisse embedded in his colourful and vibrant images to avoid the Nazi censors and to protest the German occupation of France.
His presentation will show how Matisse’s text, written after he created his images, became a fundamental part of the book even as it presented a peaceful transition to a liberated nation. Rodney has extensively researched the role of the illustrated book in occupied France and has spent many years examining Matisse’s wartime books and especially this landmark work.
Related reading: Talk
Exhibition
Henri Matisse: Jazz
12 November 2017
One of the most-loved artworks of the twentieth century