Archives for Sale

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Henry Matisse Paper Cut-out Archive

William Gordon Ceramic Archive

Henry Matisse (Paper Cut-out Archive)

Henri Matisse - A collection of original printed posters, Livres D'Artistes Books, Periodicals and Catalogues Designed by Matisse, Matisse Exhibition catalogues and Monographs INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL PROSPECTUS FOR JAZZ.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is one of the greatest painters of all time. His work is in all the major museums of the world and his place in art history is assured.

This Collection of printed material covers a lesser known area of Matisse's work. It includes livres d'artistes, books with original illustrations by Matisse, and books, periodicals and catalogues designed by Matisse, as well as some original printed posters.

Part I - contains three original posters (nos. 1 - 3) all preserved in acid free mounts and includes the famous images "La Danseuse Creole " (no. 1) produced for the Musee Matisse in 1950 and "Papiers Decoupes" printed by Mourlot, France for a Paris Exhibition of cut-outs in 1953.

Part II - contains some fine books with original illustrations by Matisse (nos 4 -8) including Poemes de Charles d'Orleans 1950 (No. 5) a limited edition signed by Matisse containing 100 lithographs and Rouveyre's Apollinaire (No. 6), a limited edition with 7 lithographs.

Part III - (nos. 9 - 36) contains all the issues of the art periodical VERVE (nos. 10-16) on which Matisse worked. In addition there are some very rare printed items containing original designs, including paper cut-outs by Matisse, including books, exhibition catalogues and an announcement card. Item no. 36 is the very rare German prospectus for Jazz of 1947, at present unrecorded by any Matisse bibliography.

Part IV - (nos. 37-61) contains original Matisse Exhibition catalogues from 1924, and includes a Paris Sale Catalogue of 1914 which contained Matisse's "L'Illyssus" (no. 37).

Part V - Contains critical and biographical studies on Matisse and his work and

Part VI - contains biographical studies.

This collection will provide an immensely important source to Art Museums, art collectors and scholarly libraries for future study into Matisse's life and work with particular reference to his 'papier decoupes' or 'paper cut-outs' where there is a rich vein of original material. This area of Matisse's work is now being highly valued with such exhibitions as 'Matisse, une seconde vie' in Paris and Denmark in 2005 (Musee Luxembourg, Paris and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark) which brought together over 147 original paper-cut out works.

A full catalogue of the archive is available upon request.

William Gordon (1905 - 1997): Ceramic Archive

William Gordon was born in St Petersberg in 1905 but spent most of his adult life in the UK. After Oxford, where he studied modern languages he started a career as a journalist writing on craft issues. He became interested in the 'White Salt Glaze' process in ceramics studying the process at a factory at Chesterfield. He then set up his own small factory and tried to introduce industrial methods to improve the rate of production.

During the 1950's he became friends with Artiguez the Spanish Ceramicist who executed designs for Miro and under his influence Gordon started to produce Architectural tiles which resulted in several commissions for works in Churches, public buildings and other locations. During the latter years of his life he produced many watercolours and decorated plates. This is a very complete archive which covers all periods from Gordon's life and was left to the present owner by Gordon and 20th Century Art Archives is very pleased to offer it to the market.

The archive falls into of 4 sections:

1. A collection of approximately 150 items made between 1930 to 1970, pots, plates, teapots, salt and pepper sets, lamp bases and many other items.

2. Architectural Tiles

3. A paper Archive - with photographs and sketchbooks.

4. Graphic work - watercolours and designs.

Further details and information is available upon request.