Publisher's Synopsis
In 1941 the Swiss art critic Pierre Courthion interviewed Henri Matisse while the artist was in bed recovering from a serious operation. After months of complicated discussions between them, and just weeks before the book was to come out, the artist even had approved the cover design, Matisse suddenly refused its publication. Taken from a typescript of the interview which resides at the Getty Research Institute, this rich conversation, conducted during the Nazi occupation of France, is published for the first time in this volume, where it appears both in English translation and in the original French version. Matisse unravels memories of his youth and his life as a bohemian student in Gustave Moreau's atelier. He recounts his experience with collectors, including Alfred Barnes. He discusses fame, writers, musicians, politicians, and, most fascinatingly, his travels.
