Haverhill Arts Centre to exhibit works by legendary French artist Henri Matisse

After the huge success of its summer exhibition of Banksy and contemporary art, The Urban Frame – Mutiny in Colour, Haverhill Arts Centre is to host a free exhibition of works by one of the most famous artists of all time.

The new exhibition opens on October 21 as it plays host to the Hayward Gallery Touring Exhibition Matisse: Drawing with Scissors Late Works 1950 – 1954.

The French painter, sculptor and designer, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was one of the 20th century’s most influential artists.

His vibrant works are celebrated for their extraordinary richness and luminosity of colour and his spectacular paper cut-outs were his final triumph.

Matisse: Drawing with Scissors, a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition from the Southbank Centre features 35 posthumous prints of the famous cut-outs that he produced in the last four years of his life, when confined to his bed.

It includes many of his iconic images, such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes.

Matisse continued creating highly original works into his eighties.

For his cut-outs he used paper hand-painted with gouache, which he carved into with scissors: ‘the paper cut-out allows me to draw in the colour … Instead of drawing the outline and putting the colour inside it…I draw straight into the colour’.

The colours he used were so strong that he was advised by his doctor to wear dark glasses.

The lithographic reproductions in this exhibition are taken from a special double issue of Verve, a review of art and literature, published by Matisse’s friend, the critic and fine art publisher Tériade, in 1958, four years after Matisse’s death.

The publication was planned during Matisse’s lifetime and the first lithographic plates were prepared under his direction a few days before he died.

HAC’s creative director, Daniel Schumann, said: “We were bowled over by the response to our summer Banksy exhibition which saw nearly 2000 residents from across the county view the brilliant and through-provoking art on display.

“The importance of events such as these on the cultural landscape of Haverhill cannot be understated and so we’re delighted to be hosting this free exhibition of Matisse late works on loan from the Hayward Gallery in London’s Southbank Centre.”

The exhibition runs in the arts centre studio from October 21 to November 17, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm and 10am to 2pm. Admission is free of charge.