Matisse illustrates Joyce's Ulysses
Matisse illustrates Joyce's Ulysses
Matisse illustrates Joyce's Ulysses
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PROPERTY OF DANA M. BALDWIN
Matisse illustrates James Joyce's Ulysses

Signed by both Joyce and Matisse, 1935

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Matisse illustrates James Joyce's Ulysses
Signed by both Joyce and Matisse, 1935
MATISSE, Henri, (1869-1954) – JOYCE, James (1882-1941). Ulysses. With an introduction by Stuart Gilbert. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1935.

Limited edition, one of only 250 copies signed by both Matisse and Joyce, number 544 from a total edition of 1500 copies. “One of the very few American livres de peintres issued before World War II. According to George Macy, who undertook this only American publication of Matisse's illustrations, he asked the artist how many etchings the latter could provide for five thousand dollars. The artist chose to take six subjects from Homer's Odyssey” (Castleman). When asked why he decided to illustrate the Calypso, Aelous, Cyclops, Nausicaa, Circe and Ithaca episodes of the classic poem rather than events from Joyce’s novel, Matisse replied that it was because he had not read Joyce's Ulysses. C. Duthuit, Henri Matisse, Catalogue raisonné des ouvrages illustrés, no. 6; The American Livre de Peintre, 32; The Artist and the Book, 197. See Riva Castleman, A Century of Artists' Books, pp. 35, 61.

Quarto (304 x 235mm). 6 etchings and 20 reproductions of preliminary drawings by Matisse. Original publisher’s brown cloth, gilt-decorated on front cover and spine, with original cardboard slipcase, all housed in custom half-morocco slipcase (light soiling on publisher’s slipcase). Provenance: Baldwin M. Baldwin (1904-1970; name in gilt on slipcase chemise).

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