The Clown (Le Clown) (plate I, frontispiece) from Jazz
Henri Matisse
French, 1869–1954
1943–47, published 1947
A pochoir frontispiece from Henri Matisse’s 1947 book Jazz in which he uses stenciled, cut-paper–like shapes and a handwritten title to translate the energy and spontaneity of jazz into bold color and form.
A flat black rectangle reads like a stage framed by vivid blue and yellow bands; inside it a white, highly stylized clown marked with red accents seems to lean or move, balanced against Matisse’s airy, looping script of the word “Jazz” on the facing page.
Made during Matisse’s late-career shift to cut-outs and stenciled color, Jazz united simplified form, vivid hue, and handwritten text into a new language for modern printmaking and influenced postwar graphic design and artists’ books.
Medium
Pochoir from an illustrated book with twenty pochoirs
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 16 3/16 × 12 1/4" (41.1 × 31.1 cm); page: 16 5/8 × 12 11/16" (42.2 × 32.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
930.1964.1
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
