Jeff Koehler, MATISSE IN MOROCCO

In winter of 1912, Henri Matisse—forty-two, nearing mid-career, and yet to find lasting critical acceptance, public admiration, or financial security since exploding to the forefront of the avant-garde in 1905 with his iconoclastic Fauve paintings—was struggling. Once the vanguard leader, the Parisian avant-garde now considered him passé. His important early collectors, including Gertrude and Leo Stein, had stopped buying his work and were fully championing Picasso, and he had exhibited little in the last few years. In the face of Cubism that was now dominating the art scene, Matisse needed to get away from Paris in order to advance his distinctive artistic vision.

Almost on a whim, he went to Tangier. Matisse had already been profoundly inspired by Islamic art, and was primed for his arrival in the Moroccan city where such art was integrated into everyday life. Despite the challenges of rain, insomnia, depression, and finding models, the sojourn was such a success he returned the following winter, which would lead to even greater artistic triumph.

Matisse in Morocco tells the story of the artist's groundbreaking time in Tangier and how it altered Matisse’s development as a painter and indelibly marked his work for the next four decades. Through Koehler's research and travel, we experience Matisse's time in Tangier, the paintings and their subjects, his relationships with his wife Amélie and his two important collectiors, and then come to understand the impact Morocco—its light, colors, culture, and artistic traditions—had on his art. From Landscape Viewed From a Window, to Zorah on the Terrace, from Kasbah Gate to the dream-like tableau Moroccan Café, these works from Morocco are now recognized as some of the most significant and dazzling of Matisse’s illustrious career.

Jeff Koehler is the author of ten books, including The Spanish Mediterranean Islands Cookbook, The North African Cookbook, Where the Wild Coffee Grows, and Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea. His titles have been named New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, paperback of the week in the Guardian, won a James Beard Award, and included in “best of” roundups in the NYT, NYTBR, WSJ, Le Monde, Science, Nature, Smithsonian, Mother Jones, and Entertainment Weekly. Koehler’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, NPR, WSJ, Times Literary Supplement, Tin House, South China Morning Post, Vogue Arabia, Food & Wine, and many other publications. Born and raised near Seattle, he has lived in Spain since 1996, and divides his time between Barcelona and Menorca. Instagram @jeff_koehler

Pre-order your copy of Matisse in Morocco here.

Also check out other Arts events in Seattle, Literary Art events in Seattle, Fine Arts events in Seattle.