But just weeks before the book was to come out, Matisse suppressed its publication. This rich conversation was published for the first time this year by the Getty Research Institute. On November 17 at 3:00 p.m. in the Harold M. Williams Auditorium in the Getty Center, Tyler Green, editor of Modern Art Notes, will discuss the significance of "Chatting with Henri Matisse" with the book’s editor, art historian Serge Guilbaut. The event is free, but reservations are required.
About the book:
Chatting with Henri Matisse: The Lost 1941 Interview (Getty Publications, $45.00, hardcover) publishes for the first time this in-depth conversation, conducted during the Nazi occupation of France, and appearing here in both English translation and in the original French version. Matisse unravels memories of his youth and his life as a bohemian student in Gustave Moreau’s atelier. He recounts his experience with collectors, including Alfred Barnes. He discusses fame, writers, musicians, politicians, and, most fascinatingly, his travels. The book is introduced by Serge Guilbaut, contains a preface by Claude Duthuit, Matisse’s grandson, and essays by Yve-Alain Bois and Laurence Bertrand Dorléac. The book includes unpublished correspondence and other original documents related to Courthion’s interview and abounds with details about avant-garde life, tactics, and artistic creativity in the first half of the twentieth century.
About the Editor:
Serge Guilbaut, a professor of art history at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, writes extensively on modern and contemporary art. His books include How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art: Abstract Expressionism, Freedom, and the Cold War (University of Chicago Press, 1983), Voir, ne pas voir, faut voir (Harmonia Mundi, 1993), and Los espejismos de la imagen en los lindes del siglo XXI (Akal Ediciones, 2009).
This event is free and open to the public. Parking is $15 per car. Reservation can be made at https://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/18529.html.