Henri Matisse: The Vence Chapel: The Archive of a Creation

Rating:
Summary: Interesting,not a coffe table book
Review: First, this is not a coffe table book. Though Illustarted, it is NOT a picture book.I mistakenly thought it so.The books dimensions are1.69 x 9.40 x 7.12 ,whic are that of a normal harcover book. That said, this is an interesting volume on the creation of the famous chapel at Vence. Matisse was ill, and a young nurse kept him company though the long bouts of insomnia accompanying his illness. Later, she joined the domincan sisters.Matisse felt a huge debt to this woman-later nun, and a serious of circumstances led to the creation of this magnificent chapel. There was a domincan friar,Fr. M.A Courtier,who after being stranded in the USA during WWII,set about bringing modern art together with the sacred.{he edited a journal called SACred art}. A young architect,Br. L.B. Rayssiguier, was designing a new chapel for the NUNS at Vence, and approached Matisse to ask his advice. The majority of this book is the correspondence between Matisse and Fr Courtier and Brother Rayssiguier. The photos show the chapel in many stages of development{though not nearly enough color photos of the remarkable stained glass windows, nor of the marvelous stations of the cross} Still, it was an interesting read,that 50 years ago, the giants of art were in competition to design great works of religious art,whatever their motives.Along with the Rothko chapel{a comparison drwan in the preface},this stands as a monument to a genius,and the letters bewteen Fr Coutrier and Matisse are filled with anecdotes and observations. The Menil Foundation has done an excellent job in the production of this volume.