The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists

Please join us on Thursday, December 19 for a tour of the Baltimore Museum of Art exhibition, The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists. The tour will be led by Katy Rothkopf, the Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies, Senior Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, and Frances Klapthor, Interim Department Head, Arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific Islands, and Associate Curator of Asian Art.
Throughout his career, Henri Matisse was fascinated with patterns and decoration. His work of the 1920s often featured European models posing in his studio as odalisques in costumes and surrounded by colorful, patterned textiles mostly drawn from the Islamic world. In these compositions, his focus was frequently split between creating the make-believe setting and conveying the sensuality of the objectified female figures in an interior space—both popular subjects made by European artists for a predominately male audience.

By contrast, Japanese artists Kikugawa Eizan (1787–1867), Keisai Eisen (1790–1848), and Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (1786–1865) presented many of their female subjects in public spaces, wearing layered robes embellished with recognizable, symbolic decorative patterns and motifs. Colorful woodcuts featured courtesans and geishas who embodied an idealized concept of femininity and beauty. These prints, widely circulated in Japan, advertised businesses and products; influenced fashion; decorated homes; and promoted the illusion of a world of unencumbered pleasure, amusement, and diversion.

For more information about the exhibition, please visit the BMA website.

Attendance is limited to 25 WPC members and their guests.  Members may register for themselves and one guest.