Matisse's Garden

In its inventive approach to teaching art history, this book should inspire teachers and students alike to experiment with color, shape and form in the same free and expressive mode as the master. (Informational picture book. 5-10)

Joining a spate of recent picture books about Matisse that includes The Iridescence of Birds, Henri's Scissors, and Colorful Dreamer, this collaboration between Friedman, an assistant curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and Milan-based illustrator Amodeo, focuses on the artist's exploration of cut-paper collage. Amodeo uses the same medium for her illustrations, which echo the simplified forms and bright colors Matisse played with; she pictures the artist in a brown button-down shirt, his blank face defined by a broad beard and large eyeglasses. Friedman's crisp writing highlights the importance of trial and error ("He cut leaves of other hues and set them against backgrounds of every shade, experimenting with different harmonies and contrasts"). She also devotes welcome attention to Matisse's assistants: in one clever scene, three workers use large brushes to paint sheets of paper yellow, violet, and green, their movements echoing those of the figures in Matisse's La Danse. Eight reproductions of Matisse's cut-paper work appear throughout, some on gatefolds, and a brief biography closes out this strong study of an artist's thought processes and growth. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 1-3—Seemingly on a whim one day, artist Henri Matisse cut a bird out of white paper, pinned it on his wall, and created a brand-new art form. Eight of his cut-paper works, some appearing as gatefolds, are reproduced in this charming, kid-friendly informational picture book that briefly describes how Matisse began working in his new style and how it and he soared as a result. Amodeo fully captures Matisse's inventive joy with her cut-paper illustrations, which work beautifully with the text and pop from the pages with brilliant, vivid colors, and kinetic energy. In a whimsical spread, the illustrator depicts the man flying to demonstrate how unfettered he felt as his scissors glided effortlessly through paper. Having started with white paper, Matisse eventually asked his assistants to paint paper against which to set his ever-larger cutouts that culminated in a studio "garden." (In a delightful touch, the assistants are shown in a scene reminiscent of the artist's La Danse.) Kids get cut- (or torn-) paper art intuitively and love playing with bright colors when creating their own masterpieces, and they'll appreciate that this book validates their own ideas about the freedom that comes with artistic experimentation. A brief biographical paragraph and material about the artworks close out the book. This title also makes for a great read-aloud before collage projects and in art units on major artists and color theory. Excellent.—Carol Goldman, Queens Library, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Friedman's spare, clear-eyed prose pairs with clean cut-paper illustrations to introduce readers to the development of Henri Matisse's late-career practice of cut-outs. 

'Eight reproductions of Matisse's cut-paper work appear throughout, some on gatefolds, and a brief biography closes out this strong study of an artist's thought processes and growth."—Publishers Weekly (09/01/2014)