Matisse at Villa le Reve

Apollo, Feb, 2005 by Michael Hall

Matisse at Villa le Reve Marie-France Boyer Photographs by Helene Adant Thames and Hudson, 12.95 [pounds sterling] ISBN 0 050 051175 6

In 1943, to escape the threat of an allied bombardment of Nice, Henri Matisse moved into the Villa le Reve, on the outskirts of Vence. Built in 1930 for an English family, this was to be his home and studio for the next five years, and here he not only painted and drew but also created the Jazz series of cut-outs.

This modest but delightful book depicts his life there, using remarkably intimate photographs taken by Helene Adant, a cousin of Lydia Delectorskaya, a model and also Matisse's assistant. They show him at work with sitters, notably Annelies Nelck, but also a striking but sadly anonymous young women from Haiti. Matisse's love for his doves and his cats Minouche and Coussi are touchingly evident (we are not told how the doves and cats got along). Most revealing of all are the photographs of the objects that he surrounded himself with: textiles, shells, wine glasses, oriental porcelain and even ashtrays that had caught his eye. These arrangements are sensitively analysed by Marie-France Boyer.

Matisse addicts are of course impatiently awaiting the publication next month of the final volume of Hilary Spurling's biography; this book's picture of the artist's life in Provence whets the appetite still further, as well being a most welcome winter evocation of the sun and scents of Provence. MH