Response Paper
In his paper, Notes of a Painter, Henri Matisse presents the idea that art should be able to speak for itself and should present itself, in a way, that a context is not mandatory to appreciate the art piece. He says that expression does not lie in passionate human face or violent movements. He believes the entire setting in a picture is expressive and everything plays its role in projecting the image of the artwork. So if something is not useful in a picture, it obviously means that it is harmful. He believes that expression lies in the very composition of the picture too, including the size of the canvas and other intricate details.
I agree with Matisse’s idea that the feeling must come from the artwork itself, without any prior context or understanding about the subject being addressed in the artwork. As he says:
“A work of art must carry within itself its complete significance and impose that upon the beholder even before he recognizes the subject matter. When I see the Giotto frescoes at Padua I do not trouble myself to recognize which scene of the life of Christ I have before me, but I immediately understand the feeling that emerges from it, for it is in the lines, the composition, the color. The title will only serve to confirm my impression.”
If observed closely, this idea is more prevalent in music than other forms of art. In music, the singer usually does not expect you to understand the context or story behind a song. The song speaks for itself and conveys the message and feelings it wants to convey. The context does help the listener to understand the lyrics, the tone and the music better, but the context is not mandatory in order to appreciate the song. Similarly, the context may help to understand the different aspects of art piece better, but it shouldn’t be mandatory for what the art piece is trying to convey. The prior understanding of the painting’s context may help the audience in their understanding of color, canvas size etc, but the main message should be conveyed without it, just like in the case of songs.
Furthermore, Matisse says that his idea of art is balance, security and purity. He says that his dream is of an art that could be soothing to every mental worker, be it a businessman or someone who is concerned with words. He uses the metaphor of an armchair to describe the idea. As he says:
It is believed about Matisse that he talked about the art as an escape, just like it seems in the above example. This is the reason that he was thought of as a decorative artist, by some. To me, the metaphor, in the above example, of a good armchair means that, above all context and meaning, if we allow ourselves to feel the work, we will get a relaxation from being forced to understand and interpret the meaning and understanding. In this way, we will be able to appreciate the artwork for itself and for its beauty, which will be a relief from having to find a meaning behind it.
Later in the paper, Matisse says that there are two ways of presenting things, “one is to show them crudely, the other is to evoke them through art.” I completely agree with the statement, but I would like to add to the statement that art is not just something subliminal or deep. We can “evoke things through art” by simply presenting the facts that we often ignore about daily life things in a beautiful manner. Art, for me, is pointing out towards the beauty that we often ignore. The author relates this point to the previous one about the art piece not needing the context to be appreciated. The previous point of the writer gets reinforced here that context is not necessary for one to appreciate an artwork’s beauty.
The most beautiful part of the whole paper is when Matisse talks about how beautiful life is for him and how the human body fascinates him more than any other thing in the world when it comes to art. Art that addresses human beings, their needs, desires and above all, their stories is the one that truly touches us and makes us realize how intricate and significant our lives are, despite seeming so insignificant in the whole vast universe.
All in all, I agree with most of the points Matisse raised in this paper. This paper has helped me understand his art more, which is quite ironic as the paper tells us that art work needs no context to be understood. Matisse has pointed out some good points in this paper, especially the ones related to his interest in art related to human beings and how art is a better way of presenting daily life things.
