For immediate release: Wednesday 4 November
MATISSE
Drawing with Scissors. Late Works 1950-1954
A Hayward Touring Exhibition
Derby Museum and Art Gallery
21 November 2015 – 3 January 2016
The French painter, sculptor and designer,
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was one of the
20th century’s most influential artists. His
from the Southbank Centre features 35
posthumous prints of the famous cut-outs
that he produced in the last four years of
his life, when confined to his bed. It
includes many of his iconic images, such
as The Snail and the Blue Nudes.
Derby Museums are thrilled to host this exhibition at the Museum and Art
Gallery.
Jonathan Wallis, Head of Museums said,
“It is great for us to work with Hayward Touring to bring this exhibition to Derby.
The work of Matisse is world-renowned and the ability for the people of Derby
to see this exhibition on their doorstep is fantastic. We hope that many people
come to see it and take advantage of this opportunity.”
 DACS
with Scissors, a Hayward Touring exhibition
Arts Council Collection
were his final triumph. Matisse: Drawing
116,2 x 88,9cm
colour and his spectacular paper cut-outs
Gouache découpée
extraordinary richness and luminosity of
Henri Matisse
Nu bleu II (Blue Nude II), 1952
Gouache découpée
116,2 x 88,9cm
 DACS
vibrant works are celebrated for their
Matisse continued creating highly original works into his eighties. For his cutouts he used paper hand-painted with gouache, which he carved into with
scissors: ‘the paper cut-out allows me to draw in the colour… Instead of drawing
the outline and putting the colour inside it… I draw straight into the colour’. The
colours he used were so strong that he was advised by his doctor to wear dark
glasses.
The lithographic reproductions in this exhibition are taken from a special double
issue of Verve, a review of art and literature, published by Matisse’s friend, the
critic and fine art publisher Tériade, in 1958, four years after Matisse’s death.
The publication was planned during Matisse’s lifetime and the first lithographic
plates were prepared under his direction a few days before he died.
Matisse began his working life as a lawyer, before going to Paris to study art in
1890. At first strongly influenced by the Impressionists, he soon created his own
style, using brilliant, pure colours, and started making sculptures as well as
paintings. In 1905 he and his colleagues were branded the Fauves (wild beasts)
because of their unconventional use of colour, and it was during this time that he
painted his celebrated Luxe, Calme et Volupté (Luxury, Tranquillity and Delight).
‘There is no gap between my earlier pictures and my cut-outs’, Matisse wrote; ‘I
have only reached a form reduced to the essential through greater absoluteness
and greater abstraction’.
Alongside this exhibition there are a series of related events and activities.
Check out the website, www.derbymuseums.org for more information.
Drawing with Scissors – 21 November – 11am-3pm – Museum & Art Gallery
http://www.derbymuseums.org/events/scissorsmatisse
Matisse: From paintbrush to paper-cut (talk) – 25 November – 2-3pm – Museum &
Art Gallery http://www.derbymuseums.org/events/paintbrush-to-paper-cut
Vinyl Cutting Lab – 26 November – 6-8pm – The Silk Mill
http://www.derbymuseums.org/events/vinyl-cutting-lab
Matisse at Christmas – 12 December – 1-3pm – Museum & Art Gallery
http://www.derbymuseums.org/events/matisse-at-christmas
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For over 40 years, the Hayward Gallery has a played a key role in creating
imaginative, high profile exhibitions in London and, through Hayward Touring
Exhibitions, within the UK. Both Hayward Touring and the Arts Council Collection
are managed by the Hayward Gallery on behalf of Arts Council England, and add to
the Hayward’s distinctive national remit.
The Hayward Gallery is a constituent part of Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest
arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most
vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an
extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951
Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen
Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison
Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. Each year the Hayward Gallery
presents up to five major art exhibitions as well as Hayward Touring exhibitions
in more than 100 venues around the country.
Derby Museums
Founded in 2012, Derby Museums Trust is an independent charitable trust which
is responsible for the rich cultural and creative history of Derby. It manages
three sites across the city, the Museum and Art Gallery, Pickford’s House and
The Silk Mill, and holds and curates all the art and collections within them,
including the world’s largest collection of paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby.
The Trust’s aim is to bring as many of the objects and treasures in the collections
into the public domain as is practically possible and present them in ways that
delight and inspire, via education and learning programmes, events and
exhibitions, in order to share knowledge and inspire creativity and making
amongst the people of Derby.
As a charitable trust, Derby Museums relies on funding and grants from
organisations and donations from businesses and the general public, all of which
is gratefully received in order to ensure that admission to the museums remains
free for all.
Derby Silk Mill – Museum of Making
Derby Museums has secured a first round pass for major grant funding of £9.4m
from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £4m Derby City Council of a £16.4m
development to create Derby Silk Mill – Museum of Making. The project will
open up the whole of the Silk Mill, creating beautiful spaces to inspire our
visitors and will provide access to 100% of Derby Museums’ collections of
Making and Social History. The new museum will have our communities at its
heart and be uniquely co-produced with the people of Derby over the next few
years.
Arts Council England
Derby Museums has been funded by Arts Council England since 2012 to deliver
improved museum facilities and services in Derby. From April 2015 Derby
Museums in a consortium with Nottingham Museums and Galleries has become
one of 21 Major Partner Museums in England.
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/fundingprogrammes/major-partner-museums-2015-18/
For more information contact: Emma Hallam, Marketing Coordinator at Derby
Museums, emma@derbymuseums.org 01332 641901.
The Tour continues:
For more information about upcoming venues for this exhibition please check:
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts/hayward-touring/current
Public enquiries about Hayward Touring exhibitions: 020 7921 0837