Chatting with Henri Matisse: The Lost 1941 Interview

Conversation with Tyler Green and Serge Guilbaut
November 17, 2013
Getty Center
Tyler Green, editor of "Modern Art Notes," and art historian Serge Guilbaut, editor of the Getty Research Institute publication, "Chatting with Henri Matisse," discuss the significance of this book-the result of a series of unpublished conversations between Swiss art critic Pierre Courthion and Henri Matisse in 1941.
For more about this event, visit the Getty Research Institute's website: www.getty.edu/research/exhibit...

[@TheGaucha7]

Great interview ! There is nothing more charming than a French person speaking about another French totally charming and so.... alive ! Thank you the book will be in my library ! and I shall re-listen to the interview many times !

[@CharityS-Minnesota]

This was incredibly enjoyable! Thank you for posting this! I will be now looking for the book

[@nevets4ever4]

A very nice and fresh interview (and confirming again, for me, a scientist that "the universe is (still) made of stories not atoms"-Muriel Rukeyser). I am, however, surprised there is very little mention about the relationship of Henri Matisse and his son, Pierre Matisse. Pierre established himself as an exceptional gallerist in New York City (65 years in the Fuller Building) with a career promoting not only his father's work but many of the great European modernist of the time (Miró, Giacometti, Bathus, Dubuffet, Chagall & others). The English writer John Russell (who was a friend of Pierre) has written an elegant treatise (Matisse: Father and Son; published in 1999) on the relationship revealed through thousands of hand-written letters spanning some thirty-four years between the father and son (and others). It is a wonderful read about the intricacies and intimacies of the Matisse "dynasty."

[@MyDaisy66]

I think you’ll find that without those Atoms, there are no stories !

[@dudenamaste]

Thank you! Great interview. Mr. Guilbaut masterfully puts the Matisse/Barnes relationship question to bed with amazing French delicacy and charm. Bravo!

[@sonnycorbi6889]

enjoyed this very much - I just watched an hour or so of a Matisse slide show so I was ready for this - It took awhile for me warm up to Matisse - The same with Miro - now i love them both dearly - I am a visual Artist/painter - Its not just that something looks good - in abstract (what ever that means) Art - a composition of the Artist work over years of development helps to decipher the essence - a thread - that gives continuity and credence to ambiguity -

[@monicastella9149]

Thank you for sharing your information re Matisse.

[@Art.Magick]

This is great but the title is very misleading.

[@chromefree]

So where the hell is the Matisse interview?

[@martharoberts2072]

This was very interesting. I had thought, though, that we might hear some of the Matisse tape.

[@madagasarjoan]

I was hoping the same.

[@michelepastele5347]

@@madagasarjoan That's what they indicated. Where is it?

[@carolwunsch4546]

Yes; a bit of subterfuge, perhaps - but what a delightful interview, nonetheless 😊.

[@franknemeth7430]

No Radio - no TV - no Internet - no High tech - no Smart phones - real life - paintings and art was all of this .

[@mrogunseyesartandstyle5655]

this is quite interesting; bringing Matisse back to life. THIS KEPT ME WONDERING- which interaction will be most interesting? ARTISTS, LAWYERS, ENGINEERS, PHYSICIANS, GEOGRAPHER ETC.

[@smihca]

Not boring at all. Loved the freshness of the French guy

[@TKMINES1]

No interview with Matisse here , it the name of a book they are selling

[@mojophe1617]

It was interesting when he talks about collectors hanging art in bathrooms whilst they sit on chairs over a work of art re the beautiful rug. It took many hours of labour to create this wonderful work of art.

[@alexandrarozenman2606]

Wonderful!

[@ElmwoodParkHulk]

In 25 years from now they should interview this interviewer about this interview of the person being interviews now about the interview of Matisse .

[@carolwunsch4546]

😂

[@petrifiedflorist]

wow!

[@xyzllii]

Misleading title. not an interview with Matisse but two boring guys telling me nothing new.

[@gailmarie1961]

That is the title of the book, madame...

[@TheMermaid63]

Thanks for saving me an hour and a half!

[@s.larsensam8692]

An echo echoing an echo. Repeat.

[@cynthiavon3089]

Sara Larkin- found insightful

[@GeoffreyLewis09]

19:20 "save your fights for canvas"

[@loumariebel]

for those who get tired of this diatribe the actual tape is on youtube in french.

[@TheNemest]

Kirsi Mikkola where?

[@artsiecrafty4164]

Why not show what you advertise?

[@Anthonyinkz]

False title

[@canweng5546]

9

[@Lsteezy]

Wonder how much my ORIGINAL “Festival of Flowers” painting is worth nowadays. 😉

[@pangtan349]

马蒂斯作品和鲁梭一样返朴归真高水平真艺术因為艺术元素起作用

[@user-tk5iw9rj8t]

김유복yv에서 만나고싶어요

[@pbainbridge]

He didn't mention that the Americans and the Russians loved his work, but the French didn't. Only later did the French establishment (Major French public galleries) buy it because they looked foolish.?

[@Methilde]

The same with Picasso !!!

[@naderkhaghani1135]

loves IT. Let us talk substance. Enough BS about Modern Art.

[@michaelodonovan7478]

=

[@Cindy-sn9nh]

Interesting, discussion about Matisse's idea of Americans as "cowboys and Indians" up to mid ,1950's...this despite American soldiers coming to France in WWI and WWII with American technology, strength, and money becoming dominant, surpassing Europe. This must be spite and a bit of patriotic PR to denigrate those who defeated the GERMANS, his daughter, Matisse's, was in German camp.

[@mikeyfreedom]

Hey Cindy , an extra bit of history is - Matisse’s daughter was also a part of the French resistance & was consequently caught & tortured also.

[@zepstoys9851]

I heard it as 1915 not 1950

[@Methilde]

It's stupid, Hemingway, Henri Miller, Scott Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and a few others where known in France between the 2 wars, this French man is just a clown.

[@Methilde]

Almost a superficial mediatic show, this man is more talking about him than the art of Matisse. The questions of the interviewer are more interesting than the answers. Anyway it's just my feeling.

[@freckitt2305]

Interpretation of interviews of conducted in 1941. Very biased, without any in-depth knowledge of social anthropology and behaviors. The hubris and unfounded moral opinions of Serge Guilbaut are astounding, and act to diminish his credibility. It would be better to read the book and forget about the interview

[@Methilde]

As a french I agree completly with you, prefer the interviewer.

[@donfaus]

Sorry but I think that the "interviewd" guy is a poser. Just my perception

[@_artorical_]

“Modern literature was a particular lightning rod for Hoover’s paranoia and anti-intellectualism, it excited his anxiety more than other 20th century art forms though he certainly kept files on modern artists such as Picasso, Chagall, Stieglitz, and O'Keeffe. “Hoover even grew to suspect there was collusion among American publishers who agreed that to publish anticommunist works and among book reviewers who gave negative reviews,or worse, ignored such books.” Claire A. Culleton, 𝘑𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎-𝘔𝘦𝘯 : 𝘑. 𝘌𝘥𝘨𝘢𝘳 𝘏𝘰𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 '𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 (2004) “FBI files show that when Picasso joined the Communist Party in 1944 J. Edgar Hoover alerted agents in Paris to monitor any plans he had to travel to the United States.”