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"There is no frigate like a book
to take us lands away"
-- Emily Dickinson

Bijou Le Tord
... to be alive all over again...


Henri Matisse

"What I had to do, I did the best I could."
-- Henri Matisse 1869-1954

Pictures from A Bird or Two: A Story About Henri Matisse
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers


"He works

joyfully,

with a

light

heart.

He is

enchanted."

pp. # 11

 

"He said,

I am

strong

because I

do what is

in my

mind."

pp.# 28

Story Outline :

IN THE BRILLIANT SUN OF Nice, France, Henri Matisse painted the boldest, brightest colors he could imagine. Joyfully, he painted everywhere and everyone. Enchanted and with a light heart, he painted all the time. "Long live painting!" he wrote to his friend Pierre Bonnard.
-- A Bird Or Two; Front flap copy

Travel Sketches:

Henri Matisse made many trips to the South of France and Nice while he lived and painted in Paris. Later in his life he decided to move there permanently. By then he already was an accomplished artist, painter, and sculptor. He also knew colors better than almost anyone. Matisse felt immensely fortunate to have found Nice, a place of such luminosity and beauty.

Matisse felt that his découpages--paper cutouts--were his best work. They reminded him of the beautiful light and colors that had intrigued him while he visited the Island of Tahiti. He "sculpted"--as he used to say-- his paper cutouts using great big scissors. Matisse began this work in his early eighties when he was ill and no longer able to walk easily or sit at his easel. Matisse never gave up his work; he loved it until the end of his life.
From Authors Note



 

 



"Matisse

made us

'hear'

with our eyes

the music

he painted

in his pictures."

pp. # 27



Books about Matisse:

Henri Matisse/A Retrospective
-- John Elderfield; 1992

With Apparent Ease
-- Lydia Delectorskaya; 1988

Matisse & Picasso
-- Yve-Alain Dubois; 1999

Matisse in Morocco:
The paintings & drawings
1912-1913
-- National Gallery of Art, Washington; 1990

Matisse: A Portrait
-- Hayden Herrara; HBJ. 1993


purchase A Bird or Two

 

... a place where dreams are born...
--Artificial Intelligence... Steven Spielberg

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Praises about A Bird or Two:

"This beautiful creation allows children
to experience two gifted artists.
Matisse and Le Tord."
-- School Library Journal; Fall 1999

 "In creating this book, Le Tord must have hoped to pass on to future generations her deep-rooted admirations for Matisse. No doubt she will succeed."
-- Five Owls; Fall 1999

"...her meaning comes through loud and clear--there is music in her work, too."
-- Publishers Weekly; Fall 1999

"Echoing Matisse's intense, beautifully balanced palette...,Le Tord creates a series of vibrant illustrations that in many ways resemble Matisse's own work."
--The Horn Book; Fall 1999

" Le Tord illustrates the picture book
with paintings in Matisse's exuberant, color-saturated style..."
-- ALA Booklist; Fall 1999

"...reflects Matisse's bold splashes of fruity-hued colors and his paper cutout sculptures."
-- The Southampton Press

More about Matisse:
Museums:

USA
New York Metropolitan Museum
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Barnes Foundation
The Baltimore Museum of Art, PA

France
Le Louvre
Musée du Quai d'Orsay
Musée Matisse, Nice
La chapelle du Rosaire, Vence