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.

The Greek god Apollo was associated with the Sun, the arts, healing and prophecy, all of which can be said to form key narratives within Matisse's revolutionary series of cut-outs. Earlier in his career the artist had written that "what I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter…a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." In its lively blaze of sun-drenched plant forms framed by symmetrical classical columns, Apollon is a perfect distillation of this philosophy.

In 1953 Matisse received a commission to design a ceramic tile mural for an enclosed patio at the home of Frances Lasker Brody, a noted patron of the arts based in Los Angeles. With no specifications in writing, he produced three monumental cut-outs to serve as potential maquettes for the commission: Decoration Masques, Decoration Fruits, and Apollon. When Brody visited the artist's studio in May 1953, she rejected all three designs and requested something less symmetrical and classically-influenced. The result was La Gerbe, which was accepted and finally installed in Los Angeles shortly after Matisse died in November 1954.

Undeterred, Matisse closely supervised the transposing of his cut-out design for Apollon to ceramic tiles so that it could be realised as a mural, working with the Spanish ceramicist J. L. Artigas. This ceramic work is now housed in the Toledo Museum of Art. The original cut-out is held by the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

Apollon is one of the most spectacular lithographs in the Verve portfolio, and expresses brilliantly the full splendour of Matisse's final works.

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

Referenced in the Catalogue Raisonne: Duthuit 139. Freitag 6231


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