MATISSE, HENRI. 1869-1954.


Autograph Letter Signed ("H. Matisse") to Henry de Montherlant describing his improved surroundings at the Clinique du Parc in Lyon, 2 pp, 4to, Clinique du Parc, Lyon, January 13, 1940 [but 1941], with additions in the margins."I AM PERFECTLY SERENE WHICH SURPRISES ME...." In late 1940, Matisse was hospitalized for abdominal pain in Nice. Just after the New Year, he was transferred to Lyon where he would undergo a two-stage colostomy. Here he writes to his friend Henry d Montherlant (1895-1972) a scant two days before his dire operation describing his new hospital, and comparing its care, reviewing the new doctors who would ultimately save his life. "Matisse was seventy-one years old when he returned from the grave in the spring of 1941" (Spurling, Matisse: The Life, p 477). This was not hyperbole. "Beginning with Matisse's serious operation in 1941 and ending with his death in 1954, these last years saw an extraordinary blossoming of his art." Without Leriche's involvement in his care, Matisse might not have had this "second life" Finsen, Matisse: A Second Life, 2005). In 1944, Matisse would illustrate Montherlant's Pasiphae, creating 147 linocuts for the purpose. Included here is the 1982 Patrick Cramer catalogue for an exhibition of a selection of Matisse lithographs for Pasiphae, limited to 1500 copies.