“Instead of drawing an outline and filling in with color — with one modifying the other — I draw directly in color… It is not a starting point, it is a completion,” said French artist Henri Matisse. This quote is displayed in the “Matisse’s Jazz: Rhythms in Color” exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago that covers the “Jazz” book and other works of Matisse throughout his life. Open through June 1, the ticketed exhibit is free for all teenage Chicago residents with other related programs and events.
Matisse’s Jazz: Rhythms in Color” explores the meaning behind Matisse’s art within his book “Jazz” but struggles with the presentation of the other artwork created before and after the book that places it within the context of his life.
To step foot in the exhibit on busy days or at popular times, requires waiting in a virtual line that may take up to 90 minutes, but that gives visitors time to walk through other intricate exhibits in the rest of the museum. Once you reach the front of the virtual line, you can finally enter the highly-anticipated exhibit, but you are confronted with a large crowd in the first room that makes it a struggle to even look at the 20 prints of “Jazz” and corresponding information that line the wall. Visiting on slower days would probably have a shorter wait and a more enjoyable experience.
As the crowd dissipates throughout the exhibit’s four rooms, the meanings behind Matisse’s works begin to surface. The exhibit explores the quiet political symbolism shown through the prints of his book “Jazz,” created in 1943 and 1944, during World War II, such as the stars in “Icarus” symbolizing the artillery shells and “The Wolf” symbolizing Nazi Gestapo, according to the text accompanying the exhibit. It is fascinating to experience the hidden meaning behind the playful, colorful cutouts that the Art Institute of Chicago describes as “drawing with scissors.”
Mattisse turned to these paper cutout compositions after an abdominal surgery, and the other three rooms of the exhibit depict his art before and after his surgery. The often simplistic, thin-lined, white-and-black art he made before his surgery contrasts the vibrancy of the first room, showing his evolution as an artist. Despite these other artworks being the majority of the exhibit, the nonchronological organization makes it difficult to understand such evolution. They seem like an afterthought compared to the art in the “Jazz” book, despite three rooms filled with such art.
Although “Matisse’s Jazz: Rhythms in Color” delves into Mattise’s life through his artworks and its underlying meanings that may be lost within viewers, it lacks the organization to place the works that are not a part of the “Jazz” book into an encompassing theme.
