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Speaker: Yve-Alain Bois (I Tatti / Institute for Advanced Study)
Three years ago, Yve-Alain Bois began researching Matisse's relationship to the art of the Italian Renaissance; from Matisse’s first trip to Italy in 1907 (including a long stay in Fiesole and a visit to Villa I Tatti) to his diving into books about it toward the end of his career when he was mostly bed-ridden. In preparation for his Stations of the Cross mural in the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence (1949-1950), Matisse was searching for iconographic models in the paintings of Giotto, Pollaiuolo, Mantegna, and many other artists. He made more drawings for this mural than any other work, from rapid pen sketches to elaborate preparatory studies in charcoal. This research eventually led to Bois curating an exhibition on the mural at the Matisse Museum in Nice, which will next open at the Baltimore Museum of Art at the end of March 2026. In this talk, Bois will reflect on how the preparation of the exhibit revealed many unexplored aspects of this extremely unusual work.
Yve-Alain Bois is Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He taught at the Johns Hopkins University (1983-1991), then at Harvard (1991-2005). He has written extensively on 20th century art, from Matisse, Picasso and Mondrian to post-war European and American art. He has curated or co-curated several exhibitions, notably of the artists just mentioned as well as “L’informe, mode d’emploi” with Rosalind Krauss at the Centre Georges Pompidou and “Ellsworth Kelly: Early Drawings” at the Fogg Art Museum. Among other projects, he is currently working on the catalogue raisonné of Ellsworth Kelly’s paintings and sculpture, the first volume of which appeared in 2015 and the second in 2021.
Image: Henri Matisse working on preparatory drawings for the Stations of the Cross, Chapelle du Rosaire, Vence, c. 1949–51.
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