A Knitted Homage to Matisse's ‘The Pink Studio’
Note before reading: This blog was written in 2018, when I was studying for my MA (hence the Harvard referencing!). Where needed, I have edited these posts to correct any factual inaccuracies. This post was last edited Jan 2025.
I visited the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition Icons of Modern Art at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in January 2017, which showcased the amazing pre-revolution collection of wealthy Russian Sergei Shchukin. His collection of French impressionist and post-impressionist in turn inspired the early Russian constructivists.
My favourite piece by a mile was Matisse's The Pink Studio - a painting i was unfamiliar with until the exhibition. I just love the colours, and the everyday scene of an interior of an artists studio, elevated by the choice of colours and objects in place.
I made some drawings in my sketchbook of key motifs and designs within the painting to deconstruct it, and began to think about ideas for knitted designs that could appear from it.
Using yarn dyed with woad, avocado stones and chlorophyll, I knitted the swatch below in response to the painting.
I'm not sure exactly what the design could turn into - perhaps a sleeve or skirt edging, or a simple scarf with the hooked up edge as the cuff/hem/edge?
References:
Burns, R. 2018. Matisse Sketch. Photograph.
Burn, R. 2018. Matisse Swatch. Photograph.
Matisse, H. 1911. The Pink Studio. [online] Available at: https://www.henrimatisse.org/the-pink-studio.jsp [Accessed 10 March 2018]