1935年至他在本世纪中叶去世之间，亨利•马蒂斯（Henri Matisse）（1869-1954）承接了许多装饰性项目和委托任务。这些包括壁画，彩色玻璃，瓷砖，铅水晶片，地毯，挂毯，时装面料和配件——迄今为止尚未得到足够的重视。通过提供大量的新见解和未出版的材料，包括来自这位艺术家自己的书信，享誉国际的研究马蒂斯艺术作品的专家约翰•克莱因（John Klein）提供了关于马蒂斯的野心和经常被人们忽略的他职业生涯的后期的成就的更丰富，更均衡的观点。马蒂斯（Matisse）在创新且广受赞誉的剪纸艺术中设计了许多这样的装饰品，克莱因（Klein）重新评估了其功能和意义。在第二次世界大战之后，马蒂斯与装饰公司也为传统的法国装饰艺术的复兴和推广打开了一扇窗户，这是法国重新焕发文化气息的一部分。马蒂斯作品中的装饰思想和他为特定环境设计的实际装饰**次被整合到一本记录中，从而使这位现代大师的作品同时变得更加细致和全面。

A brand new look at the extremely beautiful, if underappreciated, later works of one of the most inventive artists of the 20th century

Between 1935 and his death at midcentury, Henri Matisse (1869–1954) undertook many decorative projects and commissions. These include mural paintings, stained glass, ceramic tiles, lead crystal pieces, carpets, tapestries, fashion fabrics, and accessories—work that has received no significant treatment until now. By presenting a wealth of new insights and unpublished material, including from the artist’s own correspondence, John Klein, an internationally acclaimed specialist in the art of Matisse, offers a richer and more balanced view of Matisse’s ambitions and achievements in the often-neglected later phases of his career.

Matisse designed many of these decorations in the innovative—and widely admired—medium of the paper cut-out, whose function and significance Klein reevaluates. Matisse and Decoration also opens a window onto the revival and promotion, following World War II, of traditional French decorative arts as part of France’s renewed sense of cultural preeminence. For the first time, the idea of the decorative in Matisse’s work and the actual decorations he designed for specific settings are integrated in one account, amounting to an understanding of this modern master’s work that is simultaneously more nuanced and more comprehensive.