Repli

1947

Author: André Rouveyre (1879-1962) 
Artist: Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Published: Paris, Bélier, 1947

The friendship between artist Henri Marisse and author André Rouveyre is evident from their regular correspondence on personal matters and art. Their strong bond allowed for critical views of each other's work. Rouveyre for instance was not convinced of the quality of the images in Matisse's book Jazz, and Matisse never managed to finish reading Rouveyre's autobiographical novels. He did however illustrate one of them: Repli, and instead of the requested (often perfunctory) portrait of the author, he produced six.

Matisse also made two linocuts for large initials that are printed in colour, four decorative linocuts in black-and-white, and six further portraits in lithographs depicting women. Matisse used a yellow-green gouache for the jacket on which he organized white clippings that together formed the title of the book: Repli. This jacket was put together in Nervet's Paris studio in gouache. In this way, the three techniques used by Matisse for book illustrations were brought together in a single book. Matisse worked on it during 1944-1945.

Pochoir is a technique in which parts of a design are composed in a particular colour with gouache by using a template. It is a kind of stencil technique that is done manually and is highly labour-intensive. In an edition such as that of Matisse's book, the work was usually not done by the artist himself, but was farmed out to a studio. Before World War II, Jean Saudé's studio was highly recommended, but for this book a different firm was employed.

Bibliographical description:

Description:	André Rouveyre ; gravures d'Henri Matisse. - Paris : Bélier, 1947. - 163 p. : ill. ; 27 cm
Printer:	Mourlot frères (lithographs) Fequet and Baudier (linocuts and text)
Edition:	370 copies
This copy:	Number 84 of 315 on Arches
Note:	Signed by the author and artist
Bibliography:	Bénézit 9-357 ; Monod 10006 ; Prout II-47-01
Shelf-mark:	Koopm K 355

References:

• Georges Barbier, 'Pochoirs', in: Arts et métiers graphiques, (1928) 3, p. 162-163
• Paul van Capelleveen, Sophie Ham, Jordy Joubij, Voices and visions. The Koopman Collection and the Art of the French Book. The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands; Zwolle, Waanders, 2009 
• Henri Matisse 1869-1954: Gravures et lithographies. Fribourg, Musée d'art et d'histoire Fribourg, 1982 
• Henri Matisse l'art du livre. Nice, Musée Matisse, 1986