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Aragon, [Louis] HENRI MATISSE: A NOVEL. Translated by Jean Stewart London Collins 1972

2 volumes. First edition in English. With 155 color illustrations and a profusion of black and white illustrations throughout, several folding. 4to, white buckram in the original dustjackets with color designs by Matisse, in the red cloth slipcase. [vi], 356; [iv], 366. A very fine set.

SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, THE ENGLISH ISSUE. A huge, fascinating look at Matisse and his creative process by Aragon, one of France's foremost poets, covering the twenty-seven years of their acquaintance. Profusely illustrated with photographs of the artist and his models, paintings, and drawings these 2 thick volumes are both a visual and literary treat.
It took Aragon close to twenty-seven years to put this book together. He assembled here all that he had ever written on Matisse, adding to it, elaborating on it, providing his glosses, letting memory do its creative work, shaping his material into what it pleases him to call 'a novel', and allowing himself numerous digressions. In spite of his elliptical ways, however, the subject 'Matisse' is overwhelmingly present, most obviously through the illustrations, carefully keyed into the text following Aragon's layout instructions and admirably illuminating it, but no less through Matisse's own words which Aragon records with scrupulous fidelity. What he has arrived at is a dialogue between writer and painter unique in writings on artists and art and uniquely revealing of the creative process.

$US595

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