Small Light Woodcut
1906
Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954
France
Small Light Woodcut is one of three woodcuts Matisse made during the winter of 1906, while he painted his early Fauve masterpiece Joy of Life, 1905-06 (Barnes Foundation). Matisse may have produced prints like Small Light Woodcutas a way of explaining graphically the new aesthetic exemplified by the Joy of Life and other Fauvist works. The prints were exhibited in Paris concurrently with the painting, which suggests the importance that Matisse ascribed to them.
Woodcut in black on cream laid paper