These lithographs were begun in 1950, almost at the end of the artist's life, and are from the only edition of lithographs of the cut-outs produced directly by Matisse working with Mourlot. The images reproduce his iconic pochoir designs and were incorporated into a volume of the French portfolio Verve, ‘Dernieres Oeuvres de Matisse’, also known as Verve 35/36, celebrating his last works and published posthumously by Teriade in Paris in 1958.

Matisse created Poissons Chinois as a maquette for a stained-glass window commissioned for the villa of the art publisher Tériade.

Tériade was a key figure in the Parisian art scene for over five decades. Born Efstratios Eleutheriades in Greece in 1897, he moved to France in 1915 to study law but soon abandoned his studies for art journalism and later, art publishing. He first met Matisse in 1929. Their collaboration continued until Matisse's death twenty-five years later. The artist was a subject or contributor to all of Tériade's publishing and editing ventures. He was a regular visitor to the gardens of his friend's villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat outside of Nice,

Matisse had begun to incorporate fish into his work around 1912, with a series of resplendent canvases featuring goldfish bowls depicted in brilliant colours.

The lithographs are in stunning condition and are becoming extremely scarce.

Referenced in the Catalogue Raisonne: Duthuit 139. Freitag 6231

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