The purest player is a child

Mimosa 1951

Machine-woven wool pile Axminster construction carpet.

Size:58X36 inches

Henri Matisse
(1869-1954)

I was reading in the "Art of the 20th Century" earlier and thought that this little segment about Henri Matisse would be nice to share. 

A playful thought before I fly to L.A. tomorrow for the "Karate Kid" premiere. My friend Harald Zwart directed it and hopefully it will blow the charts off the wall!!!

I no longer ask whether and how long my works will outlast me," Matisse told Gotthard Jedlicka, who visited him in his hotel room in Cimiez, in the hills above Nice, his retirement home. " What I create what I shape, has its meaning in the fact that I create it, that I shape it; is fulfilled in the enjoyment my work gives me - my work? My play. I play and fulfill myself in play; and must a game outlast the player? Isn't it's meaning to fulfill itself in itself? The purest player is the child, because it is one with the game. I too play, with the scissors, like a child, and I ask just as little as a child does what will become of the game that gives me such delightful hours." Out of this game, begun because he was no longer able to plain, grew a late work, a manifestation of an outstanding genius independent of medium and tools, his gouaches decoupes, among the purest and most beautiful imagery in art of all time."

Spray of Leaves 1953

Gouaches cut-outs 294 X 350cm

And with that I am off to play!

- Just noticed that I am hitting 3000 hits.
Thank you all for your support!!
I am having so much fun writing this blog and YOU keep me going:)

With Love
Kristin