Matisse in a new book

It's been only two weeks since the publication of the book/catalogue Henri Matisse: The Cut Outs. I haven't seen the book, but its description sounds mouth-watering: original archival photographs of the artist, copies of his cutout works, articles by leading authorities. All this to accompany the extended exhibition of Matisse's cutouts, which started last month at Tate Modern and will last till early September, to be then moved to New York, for more display and more glory.

"Taking the form of a 'studio diary', the catalogue re-examines the cut-outs in terms of the methods and materials that Matisse used, and looks at the tensions in the works between finish and process; fine art and decoration; contemplation and utility; and drawing and colour."

The book has been edited by a group of very talented curators: Karl Buchberg (Senior Conservator, Museum of Modern Art, New York), Nicholas Cullinan (Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Jodi Hauptman (Curator, Department of Drawings, Museum of Modern Art, New York). Their work has done a lot to promote Matisse in the greatest museums of the world.

My Matisse, whose never-seen-before work occupies the nucleus of my novel, The Matisse Puzzle, is placed, chronologically, slightly earlier than his turn to the paper cutout technique. The action of my novel grows around rumors of this original painting executed in 1930, when Matisse spent a short time in Tahiti. The existence of a hidden masterpiece of this importance kindles fires that go well beyond the work of art.
But that's just me. For a specialist perspective on this incredible artistic journey which was Matisse's series of paper cutouts, the book I have just mentioned is an invaluable piece of art history. Worth all the money in the world.