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Henri Matisse, designer

The Nightmare of the White Elephant (Le Cauchemar de l'éléphant blanc), 1947

Description

Maker

  • Henri Matisse, 1869-1954, French, designer

Title

The Nightmare of the White Elephant (Le Cauchemar de l'éléphant blanc)

Year

1947

Medium

Color pochoir on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • color pochoir

Supports

  • medium weight cream wove paper

Dimensions

Plate: 41.1 x 63.8 cm (16 3/16 x 25 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--Verso:in pencil inscribed, center of right edge:Roh/GW135

Identification

State

100

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

1987.058

Projects & Publications

Publications

Manual / Issue 3

Circus
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Circus

August 1, 2014 - February 22, 2015

Here Henri Matisse creates an overall sense of the chaotic atmosphere of the center ring, with harsh red slashes and black undulating forms which almost obscure the elephant who stands on a ball in the background.

In 1943, at the age of 74, Matisse began work on the portfolio Jazz, 20 prints of circus and theater images accompanied by texts and poems. His “crystallizations of memories of the circus” were designed using paper cutouts, which Matisse arranged as collages. Assistants then prepared the collages for printing using a stencil process called pochoir.

New Art for Providence

July 20 - September 16, 1990

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is The Nightmare of the White Elephant (Le Cauchemar de l'éléphant blanc) with the accession number of 1987.058. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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