Italy showcases Matisse's oriental influences

Italy showcases Matisse's oriental influences

The influence of Arab, African and Asian art on Henri Matisse is the theme of a major collection of the French artist's work that has gone on show in Rome. The exhibition, "Matisse Arabesque", runs until June 21 at the Scuderie del Quirinale, the former stables of Italy's presidential palace which have been transformed into a museum that boasts spectacular views over the Eternal City. Curator Ester Coen has set out to demonstrate how Matisse's enduring fascination with what he would have referred to as the Orient influenced the work of an artist considered one of the fathers of modern art. Matisse also once said that modern art, "in its very essence is closer to archaic and primitive arts than to the arts of the Renaissance." - 'Exceptional paintings' - Those ideas form the basis for the exhibition and Coen illustrates the point by accompanying Matisse's paintings with examples of the kind of decorative arts from which the artist took inspiration, among them Moorish tiles, African masks, shields and wood carvings, and textiles from places as far afield as Uzbekistan and Japan.