IU Art Museum showing work by Henri Matisse

If you've never seen a work of art by a decidedly significant artist of the 20th century, here is your chance. The IU Art Museum is currently displaying Henri Matisse's "Still Life (Histoire Juive)."\nMatisse's "Still Life" was painted in 1924, and represents the style that he cultivated following his Fauvist period earlier in the century. The painting is an actual recreation of objects in his studio in Paris.\nJenny McComas, curator of Western Art after 1800 at the IU Art Museum, said, "Matisse was living in South France in the city of Nice during this time, and I think the patterns and colors are heavily influenced by this environment." \nThe story of the arrival of Matisse's "Still Life" on IU's campus is quite interesting as well, McComas said.\n"Our display of Stuart Davis' 'Swing Landscape' was on loan in Paris, and upon its return, the Philadelphia Museum of Art requested a loan as well," she said. "In exchange, we received Matisse's 'Still Life' from the Philadephia Museum of Art."\nThe "trade" was also facilitated by the fact that the current curator of Western Art at the Philadelphia Art Museum previously held McComas' current job at the IU Art Museum. \nMatisse was born in France in 1869, where he became a lawyer. However, Matisse soon enrolled in art classes at the noted French art school, École des Beaux-Arts, in 1892. While there, he became highly influenced by the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist schools of painting, led by such luminaries as Cezanne, Gauguin, Pisarro and van Gogh.\nMost art experts agree that the year 1905 is when Matisse discovered his own definitive style with the creation of one of his most famous paintings, "The Joy of Life." With this painting, Matisse clearly established himself within the Fauvist movement of painting, and many experts concur that he indeed headed the Favuist school.\nMatisse continued to define himself as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century with such works as "Blue Nude," "Harmony in Red," "The Red Studio" and "Open Window, Collioure."\nOn Matisse's lasting impact, famed writer and art historian Robert Hughes stated in his seminal work "The Shock of the New" that, "In the 1960s, when we all believed art could still change the world, this seemed a limited aim, but in fact one can only admire Matisse's common sense. He, at least, was under no illusions about his audience. He knew that an educated bourgeoisie was the only audience advanced art could claim, and history has shown him right ..."\nMatisse died in 1954, upon which Picasso remarked, "All things considered, there is only Matisse." \n"Still Life (Histoire Juive)" will be on display at the IU Art Museum until Oct. 31. It can be seen in the Doris Steinmetz Kellett Endowed Gallery of Twentieth Century Art, and is complemented by several other paintings by Matisse from the IU Art Museum's permanent collection.