Arranging the Hair of Hérodiade (La Coiffure d'Hérodiade)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

This work comes from a series of 29 etchings created by Matisse to be published in a book alongside poetry by Stéphane Mallarmé. Here Herodias, the mother of the biblical princess Salome, sits while a nursemaid fixes her hair. Having never made an illustrated book before, Matisse decided he didn't want to make conventional illustrations but rather to create a visual equivalent for the effect of the poetry on the reader. Happily, Mallarmé's poetry—evocative, ambiguous, and rhythmic—proved a perfect foil to Matisse's aesthetic approach.

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