Madame Matisse The Green Line

Rashaad Carswell
Nanci Shapiro
Art History III
30 April 2015

Henri Matisse’s Portrait of Madame Matisse; The Green Line
Use one of the Matisse’s paintings and discuss what it does for color structure. Why is it so arresting and how is how is modern?

Within the Fauvism movement, we find its most central artist, Henri Matisse. He was an artist among other artists collectively responsible for creating the Fauvism movement by using broad strong areas of color that seemed crude, savage, shocking and puzzling to critics as well as brilliant to others in 1905. Despite an undesirable response, these radical exercises modernized how color would be perceived from here on out. With Matisse at the helm, his paintings exemplified this modernization;
Color, along with the subject of Madame Matisse, is the focus and most important element of the work. Matisse has used color here to illustrate the composition of his wife, but clearly the color use is not how one would imagine she looks in reality. These colors are bright, striking and painterly. One would not expect that her hair is really comprised of blue hues and that her complexion is a mixture of greens, oranges, yellows, and pinks. His brushstrokes are obvious which aid in rupturing any illusionistic element of a realistic painting. The green line down the middle of her face, though non-representational, reflects the location where the divide of light and shading render upon the subject. It almost appears as if Madame Matisse sat between a natural light source and a lamp causing two light sources to reflect upon her from different directions. The result is shading represented by the green objects in the middle and under her eyes. The combination of colors is non-naturalistic providing spatial contrast readily apparent to the viewer. Despite the appearance of being randomly applied, it is evident that Matisse has thoughtfully placed the color on the canvas.
However, in 1905, most would disagree and criticize this piece for it is break from traditional realistic paintings that they were commonly used to. This was the case with work by Matisse as well as other
For example, the green line also objectifies the image of Madame Mastisse; particularly in her face where it appears very masklike. Whereas it abstract signifies the markings a viewer would find on a mask within African culture. At this time Matisse was deeply captivated by African sculpture and perhaps this was his means of channeling this interest within his work. Canady provides his intention as, “Matisse was learning that color as pure color could have its own rhythms, its own structure, that color could be exalted for itself rather than used as descriptive or decorative accessory to other elements of a picture” (Canaday, 385).
Despite objectionable reactions, some expressed positive critiques and were enlightened by his work. In 1905, most critics rejected his innovative style of using color to the extreme and paralleled him with artistS who’s works were as innovative but initially disfavored; such as Manet, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Although Matisse studied the likes of Gauguin, Rodin, Van Gogh, and, most importantly, Cezanne, he deviated in structure and admiration. In this painting, as seen in other works by him, color became the sole factor for achieving balance and unity although it aesthetically seemed arbitrary in