Matisse Chez Duplay

Artist Ian Hamilton Finlay (Nassau, Bahamas, 1925 - 2006)

Artist Julie Farthing

PublisherPublished by Wild Hawthorn Press (founded 1961)

Date1989

Object NameCard

Mediumcard, ink

ClassificationsPrints

DimensionsPaper Size: 16.9 x 12cm

AcquisitionPresented in 2010 by Joyce Laing OBE.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG017646

About MePrinted card co-designed by Ian Hamilton Finlay and Julie Farthing, published by the Wild Hawthorn Press. It features the following text, white on blue, in handwriting that mimics that of the artist referenced in the title, Henri Matisse:

"The chamber of the deputy of Arras contained only a wooden bedstead, covered with blue damask ornamented with white flowers, a table, and four straw-bottomed chairs."

This text would appear to be an extract from Alphonse de Lamartine's "History of the Girondists", which is cited on the reverse of the card beneath the title, "Matisse Chez Duplay". The blue damask referred to in the text was a toile de Jouy fabric referenced extensively in Matisse's work between the years of 1905 to 1908. The common theme that ties together the design would appear to be the French Revolution: Arras was the hometown of the French Revolutionary leader, Maximilien Robespierre; Maurice Duplay was a revolutionary and landlord to Robespierre; and Lamartine's "History of the Girondists" was a rhetorical text written in praise of the Girondists, a political faction within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution. The design was also reproduced as a lithograph.

This card is part of an archive that belonged to Joyce Laing, OBE. The artist, Ian Hamilton Finlay, was a personal friend.