Paper wrapper, from Jazz

Henri Matisse’s Jazz is often considered the pinnacle of livres d’artiste. Livres d’artiste, or artist’s books, are typically collaborations between artists and authors resulting in limited edition, fine-crafted, beautifully printed books with original graphic work. The tradition was particularly strong in France in the beginning-to-mid 20th century.Like many of his contemporaries, Matisse was part of this movement; Jazz was by far his most ambitious and beautiful book. He composed the copy and then hand-wrote the curvy, playful calligraphic text in addition to creating all of the images. The images are the primary focus, and as Matisse himself explains at the beginning of the book, the role of the text “is purely visual.”The publisher Tériade produced only 270 complete copies of this book of loose folio sheets, which include 20 color pochoirs—prints hand-colored using a stenciling technique. A variety of motifs—the circus, the sea, algae, leaves—runs throughout the book, displaying Matisse’s famous technique of brightly colored cut-outs. The end result is a lush, lively creation that feels as fresh today as at its conception.