LACMA: MATISSE ON PAPER

It was truly an inspired discovery to walk into the current Matisse collage exhibit at LACMA. The exhibit showcases the paper cutouts of Matisse, a technique Matisse invented in the last two decades of his life, to compensate for a surgery that left him a semi-invalid. Using scissors and colored paper, the artist engaged in some of his most radical experiments with form and color, light and space. 

According to the Matisse website, "Vast in scale (though not always in size), lush and rigorous in color, his cutouts are among the most admired and influential works of Matisse's entire career. They belong with the grandest affirmations of the élan vital in Western art."