The Open Window
Henry Mattise
Henry Mattise’s painting, The Open Window, brings
out two
different emotions in me when I look at it.
On the one hand, the colors and
softness of the flowers and ocean scene seem to be happy and relaxing. I
feel
like I’m being called out to experience the world beyond the window, and
it’s a
beautiful world. On the other hand, the
darkness around the upper windows and left wall along with the feeling
of a
small space as I stand in the imaginary
room looking out the window stirs up a feeling of being boxed in. Of
wanting to get out. This seems appropriate considering that
Mattise painted this work during a time
of change. He was coming out of his “dark
period” in 1905 when this was painted and had also been influenced by
Paul
Signet and his work with the pointillist technique. Mattise loved color
and was part of a group
of artist that had begun challenging the traditional style of painting.
This change started with the Impressionists,
continued with the Pointillists and now moved to Mattise and the
Fauvisms. These artists were part of movement that
challenged the way people saw things and attempted to change the
accepted ways
of thinking that had remained for centuries.
This can also be seen in the Antarchist movement that artists such as
Signet were involved in, to the hints of change in the social systems
because
of vast differences between the aristocrats and the paupers, and in the
break between France and the Catholic
church in 1905 when they officially seaparated the two by law. The
early 1900s saw many changes but these
were a few that may have influenced Mattise in his quest to push the
envelope
in his works.
Not only did the changing times and the changing work of
artists such as Signet influence Mattise,
but the post-impressionists such as Cezanne and Van Gogh did as
well. His travels in the early 1900’s
also affected his art and the use of color that he used. A trip to the southern coast of France is the
setting for this particular work and it resembles Signet’s work The Port of Saint-Tropez. When
showing this work for the HVS I would suggest showing it with this piece as well
as another piece by a contemporary such as Maurice de Vlaminck’s work The River
Seine at Chatou because it seems to resemble this The Open Window in style and
color.
No comments:
Post a Comment