Matisse: The Life

(Paperback)

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HENRI MATISSE, one of the greatest innovators of twentieth-century painting, was an intensely private person.It was not until half a century after his death that Hilary Spurling's two-part biography cleared away the fog of inaccurate guesswork and gossip that obscured both the man and at times his work. Matisse- The Life contains the pith of those two volumes, universally acclaimed for their revelatory insight, meticulous scholarship and brilliant storytelling. This new, one-volume edition centres on the ferocious struggles that underlay the radiant serenity of Matisse's work, and traces their intimate connection to the personal disasters that beset him, his family and his country through two world wars.This is, in the author's own words, the 'short, sharp, clear portrait I should have liked to write in the first place'. PRAISE FOR THE UNKNOWN MATISSE 'A marvellous sunburst of a biography' Richard Holmes, Daily Telegraph 'Reveals a personality - and a personal history - none of us had guessed at' Richard Dorment, The New York Review of Books 'Matisse is truly amazing, and it is an amazing story . . . Outstanding' Philip Hensher, Spectator PRAISE FOR MATISSE THE MASTER 'A true biographical masterpiece' Mark Bostridge, Independent on Sunday 'An outstanding biography, as full of insight into the pictures as it is revealing about the man' Jeanette Winterson, The Times 'As dazzling as its subject . . . superb' Peter Conrad, Observer

Reviews

Spurling at her brilliant best as passionate scholar, traveller and storyteller . . . Lavishly illustrated and lovingly well written'

* Daily Telegraph on 'The Unknown Matisse' *
An outstanding biography, as full of insights into the pictures as it is revealing about the man * The Times on 'Matisse the Master' *
Destined to remain the standard biography for a long time. Spurling has done better than anyone else at uncovering intimate information about Matisse * Guardian on 'Matisse the Master' *

Author Bio

Hilary Spurling was born in 1940. She is the author of numerous biographies, including Ivy When Young: The Early Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett 1884-1919; Paul Scott: A Life; a two-volume biography of Matisse, The Unknown Matisse and Matisse the Master (also published in the abridged single-volume Matisse: The Life); and Burying the Bones. She won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize for Ivy When Young, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award for Matisse the Master, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Burying the Bones. She grew up in Bristol and studied at the University of Oxford. From 1964 to 1970 she was theatre critic and literary editor of the Spectator, and since then she has been a regular book reviewer for the Observer and the Daily Telegraph. She lives in London with her husband, the playwright John Spurling, with whom she has three children. Her new book, Anthony Powell, will be published by Hamish Hamilton in October 2016.