Those who know Henri Matisse through his sumptuous, intensely colored canvases might be surprised to learn that he was also a dedicated printmaker, responsible for over 800 images. In a career spanning fifty years, almost until his death in 1954, he employed a whole range of techniques, from drypoint and etching to lithography, monotype, aquatint and woodcut. A second surprise – almost a paradox – is that one of the foremost colorists of the twentieth century worked as a printmaker almost exclusively in black and white.

Matisse devoted considerable time and energy to contemplating the role of the artist, and his writings provide a clue as to why he took up printmaking. He felt it was important for an artist to pursue multiple approaches to creative expression, including painting, sculpture, drawing and, by extension, printmaking. For him, time spent in the various printmaking ateliers of Paris was an opportunity to develop and explore ideas started in oils, charcoal or sculpture, before taking them back to these areas for further progress. In practice he turned to printmaking when he felt in need of a diversion or when he found himself unable to concentrate on the more demanding medium of oil paint. He was also stimulated by the self-imposed limitation of black and white, and saw it as the perfect vehicle to work out problems and resolutions. He also, it has to be said, saw the commercial advantages of printmaking, and by so doing followed in the footsteps of predecessors such as Dürer and Rembrandt, and contemporaries such as Picasso, Miró and Chagall, who all saw the economic, as well as artistic, benefits of becoming a printmaker.

His attitude to printmaking contrasted sharply with that of Picasso. Whereas the Spaniard made prints relentlessly throughout his life, involving himself in the technical aspects as he did so and revelling in the chance to break every rule in the book, Matisse turned to printmaking sporadically and only when he felt the need – sometimes going years at a time without making any prints at all. He was also content to work with, and learn from, master printers and to let them handle the technical aspects. But this is not to underestimate him – he knew exactly what he wanted from his technicians, and supervised them extremely closely.