Expert: David Freeman - 2/13/2003

Question
Thank you for your reply.  Give me an opinion.  Definitely wont have you doing my paper.  Pointers would be good.  I have to use Henri Matisse "The Blue Nude" (1907), Karl Schmidt-Rottluff "Apostle (1918) and Henry Moore Reclining Figure (1929).  I have been trying to find a basic outline as to Why? My opinion on Primitivism is the appropriation of formal qualtities from cultural artefacts attached to Non-European i.e. African etc. The question I need to answer is What was the condition of Fine Art at the beginning of the 20th Century? Why the search/need for change. The issues related to primitivism referring specifically to the sited artworks or aspects thereof to prove/point out/substantiate the various claims or statements I make.
Hope this makes sense. The books available at our Libraries are limited.  There are plenty at Port Elizabeth University which is 720km's from me and you are restricted to using other institutions Libraries.  My best option is the internet. Is there a site where you can view papers etc without having to pay for it?


Answer
Li,
I  empathise with you over the library situation, so it will be a bit of a slog without the books, even so:
LOTS of POINTERS FOR YOU:

GETTY in the USA have on line data base you might try and researchers who are very helpful

http://www.getty.edu/

Other than that here you go:


As you know,an opinion held by many is that Henri Matisse was the most important French painter of the 20th century, rivaling Picasso in his influence.


He was Grandfather of Paul Matisse.
Studied under Gustave Moreau and Adolphe William Bouguereau.
Matisse's students included Max Weber.
His background was diverse.
He studied under Bouguereau and Gustave Moreau and experimented with Pointillism, which he found rigidly confining. Later, building on the work of Cézanne and Gauguin, he and Andre Derain developed Fauvism, a much freer and more expressive style of painting which was in fact the forerunner of Expressionism.
All sources of information here:

ABOUT: Henri Matisse, The Blue Nude (1907)
Matisse's early works, such as The Blue Nude of 1907 were characterized as "Fauvist" by critics.
In "Fauvist" works, the artist uses rather unrealistic colors and distorted shapes to directly reflect their own thoughts and feelings, and to elicit an emotional response in the viewer.
Matisse's style and concerns are closely related those to contemporary German Expressionist painters, though the tone of his works is generally quite optimistic.

http://classicartists.vstoregallery.com/cgi-bin/pagegen/vstoregallery/classicart...

Matisse's early sculpture reveals an interest in African art and in Rodin.

"In its thoughtfulness, steady development, benign lucidity, and wide range of historical sources, Matisse's work utterly refutes the notion that the great discoveries of modernism were made by violently rejecting the past. His work was grounded in tradition - and in a much less restless and ironic approach to it than Picasso's. As a young man, having been a student of Odilon Redon's, he had closely studied the work of Manet and Cézanne;

The largest collections of Matisse's works are in the Baltimore Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, New York City; and the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

The Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) (1907) Baltimore Museum of Art: Baltimore, MD.

*************HERE YOU GO: http://www.artbma.org/************

DEFINITELY Speak to them by e mail if I were you.


Further here are some sites that you may wish to go to [by searchingthe keyword] for research and have dialogue with the curatorial staff if you feel appropriate:

Art Institute of Chicago
Bathers by a River

Guggenheim Museum

Matisse Museum, Nice, France (in French) ../scripts/r.pl?L965+0+F../scripts/r.pl?L965+0+F

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Promenade among the Olive Trees, 1906

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Nasturtiums with the Painting "Dance", 1912

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota
15 artworks

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Carmelina, 1903

Museum of Modern Art, New York
Illustration from Poesies, 1932
(In the "Etching" section)

Museum of Modern Art, New York
Reclining Nude, 1938

Museum of Modern Art, New York
Dance (first version), 1909

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Henri Matisse and the Fauves

State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
50 works

State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Dance

State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Henriette III, sculpture, 1929

Ball State Museum of Art, Indiana
Danseuse Allonge, Bras Droite Sous La Tete, 1927

Baltimore Museum of Art

Beyeler Foundation Collection, Switzerland

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida
Girl at the Piano, 1925
Margaret

Chrysler Museum, Virginia

Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
The Organdie Dress
Festival of Flowers, Nice
Interior with an Etruscan Vase
The Windshield, On the Road to Villacoublay
Bather with Necklace

Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio

E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich

E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Still Life, 1907-08
The Pont Saint-Michel, Paris, 1903

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, New York

Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, New York

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
L'Asie (Asia)

Kunsthaus Zurich (in German) ../scripts/r.pl?L559+25+D../scripts/r.pl?L559+25+D

Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland
Click on "Sammlung" and then "Künstler", and look under "M for "Meister des Hausbuches"

Kunstmuseum Bern (in German) ../scripts/r.pl?L548+15+D../scripts/r.pl?L548+15+D

McNay Art Museum, Texas

Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, New York
Landscape

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec
Seated Woman, Back Turned to the Open Window, C.1922

Musée de Grenoble, France (in French) ../scripts/r.pl?L981+3+F../scripts/r.pl?L981+3+F
Nature Morte au Tapis Rouge

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (in French) ../scripts/r.pl?L116+60+F../scripts/r.pl?L116+60+F

Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil (in Portuguese) ../scripts/r.pl?LA73+21+P../scripts/r.pl?LA73+21+P

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Woman in a Purple Coat, 1937

Musée Matisse, Le Cateau, France (in French) ../scripts/r.pl?LD26+0+F../scripts/r.pl?LD26+0+F
Click on the easily-missed "Entrée" to enter the site

New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana
Jazz

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California

Philadelphia Museum of Art
Mademoiselle Yvonne Landsberg, 1914

Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania

Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri
Bathers with a Turtle, 1908

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California
Pont Saint-Michel, C.1901

Smith College Museum of Art, Massachusetts

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (in German) ../scripts/r.pl?L240+49+D../scripts/r.pl?L240+49+D

The Menil Collection, Texas
Black Leaf on Green Background, 1952

Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio
Apollo
(requires Flash 5; click on the "Modern and Contemporary" tab)

Wright Museum of Art at Beloit College, Wisconsin



             FOR: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
     [German Expressionist Painter, 1884-1976]

North Carolina Museum of Art
Portrait of Emy, 1919

Brücke Museum, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany

California State University Library

Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
Two Cats
Self-Portrait with Hat

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Grand Rapids Museum of Art, Michigan
Harvest, 1920

Museum Wiesbaden, Germany (in German) ../scripts/r.pl?LD37+19+D../scripts/r.pl?LD37+19+D

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California

Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Conversation about Death, 1920

Royal Academy of Arts, London, England
(site is a bit flaky under Netscape)
Gateway

San Diego Museum of Art
Devotion, 1912

Tate Gallery, London, England

Henry Moore
[English Abstract Sculptor, 1898-1986]

If a work of sculpture has its own life and form, it will be alive and expansive, seeming larger than the stone or wood from which it is carved. It should always give the impression, whether carved or modeled, of having grown organically, created by pressure from within.
- Henry Moore, 1958, quoted by Edouard Roditi


Museums and Art Galleries:
Guggenheim Museum

Henry Moore Foundation

National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside, England
The Falling Warrior, 1956-59

North Carolina Museum of Art
Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, 1961

North Carolina Museum of Art
Large Spindle Piece, 1968-69

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice Reclining Figure, 1938

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice Three Standing Figures, 1953
Working Model for Oval with Points, 1968-69

Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, England
Sheep Series, Pl. II

Art Gallery of Ontario
Large Two Forms, 1966-69
Seated Figure, 1930

Art Gallery of Ontario
Six Reclining Figures, lithograph, 1963

Ball State Museum of Art, Indiana
Family Group, C.1944

Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Illinois
Interior Form

Bolton Art Gallery, England
Helmet Head No.5 (Giraffe)

California State University Library

Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University

Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Florida

Didrichsen Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
The Archer
Atom Piece

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Göteborg Museum of Art, Sweden
Family Group, 1947

Grand Rapids Museum of Art, Michigan

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.

Leeds City Art Gallery, England
Reclining Figure

Leeds City Art Gallery, England
Mother and Child, 1936-37

Middelheim Open-Air Museum for Sculpture, Antwerp, Belgium
King and Queen, 1952-53

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec
Seated Figure, Arms Outstretched, 1960

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec
Woman (La Parze), 1957-58

New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana
Reclining Mother and Child, 1979

Reina Sofía National Museum, Madrid
(Site may not work with Netscape)

San Diego Museum of Art
Reclining Figure: Arch Leg, 1969

Speed Art Museum, Kentucky
Reclining Figure: Angles, 1979

Tate Gallery, London, England

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran
Oval with Points
Three-Piece Reclining Figure
Two-Piece Reclining Figure

The Israel Museum

University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Alberta
Two Vertical Figures, batik, 1949

Walker Art Center

Wright Museum of Art at Beloit College, Wisconsin

Articles:
Artcyclopedia
Article: "Henry Moore and the British Museum: The Great Conversation"

The New York Observer
After All These Years, Henry Moore Is Great, article by Hilton Kramer

Time Magazine Archives
The Sentinels of Nurture: Henry Moore 1898-1986, article by Robert Hughes
(free trial eLibrary registration required to see full text)

Best of luck David