Curated by Cécile Debray with Dorthe Aagesen and Rebecca Rabinow
Forget the rivalry between Picasso and Matisse: Matisse was, it appears, his own severest competitor. Coming on the heels of “Matisse: Radical Invention 1913–1917,” an exhibition concerning the artist’s tortured practice of scraping and revising his painted work, “Matisse: Paires/Impaires” showcases paired pieces devoted to a single motif. Indeed, Matisse’s process, once portrayed as largely intuitive, is now routinely said to have been formal and strict. Perhaps this approach counts as a necessary historical correction. In any case, the roughly seventy works on canvas and paper exhibited here will surely be riveting. A team of French and American heavy hitters has been assembled to contribute to the catalogue, promising a solid, exhaustive exegesis of the theme.
