French painter Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) expressed joy through patterns, ornamentation and vivid colors. Given a paint set while recovering from an illness, Matisse described his discovery of art as “a kind of paradise.” Originally labeled a Fauvist, he produced early works that were remarkably mature. After seeing Impressionist and Japanese art, Matisse made color instrumental to his work, and experimented with expressive abstraction. He also decorated the Dominican nuns’ chapel at Vence, France when he was almost 80. Matisse, who was often nervous, relieved his tension through painting.
This collotype print was produced in an unknown edition size.
This fine art print is produced using the collotype process, a meticulous printing process that produces extraordinarily detailed reproductions with unparalleled color depth and range. Although collotype printing was replaced by the offset lithography press for commercial printing, it is still used by some fine art printers because of its unique ability to capture microscopic detail and tonal gradations.