Monday, December 13, 7:00 p.m.

Book Launch (In English)

ROBERT PAGANI
Robert Pagani has been an interpreter for the United Nations. He is the author of a number of plays performed or read on Radio Suisse Romande. His first novel, Mon Roi, mon amour has just been published in English as The Princess, The King and The Anarchist (Helen Marx Books, 2010)

in conversation with

CAROLINE WEBER
Author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie-Antoinette Wore to the French Revolution

The Princess, The King and The Anarchist takes place on May 31, 1906, the wedding day of King Alphonso XIII of Spain to British Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. As the royal procession snakes its way slowly through Madrid, the cheering of the crowd and the decorum and fanfare of the retinue masks the sinister assassination plot awaiting the young couple just before their gilded carriage enters the palace gates. This true historic event inspired Pagani’s at times funny, always suspenseful, and poignant novel, which he tells from the outsider’s point of view, that of the young bride.

Through December 21
(Please check website for days the gallery will be closed for university events)

EXHIBITION
Henri Matisse: Writers on Paper
Selected Drawings and Prints from The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation

Curated by Martin Fisher and Martin Mullin .


The first exhibition devoted to Matisse's male portraiture. Many of these drawings and prints of writers who were friends and collaborators of the artist have never before been exhibited. It includes a selection of intimate drawings and prints of writers, including Matisse’s friends, colleagues, and a young poet and martyr, Roger Bernard, whom Matisse admired.

Central to Writers on Paper are seven large pen-and-ink portraits of Louis Aragon, one of France’s foremost poets, who became one of Matisse’s most passionate advocates. Other drawings and lithographs in this jewel-like exhibition portray Henri de Montherlant, Paul Léautaud, and Matisse’s mysterious neighbor, Franz Thomassin, an avant-garde writer who published under the name Franz Viller.

The images in this exhibition offer insights into the personalities of these writers. Indeed, Matisse’s spontaneous portraits are like frames from candid documentary films. Rendered in his hallmark stenographic style, the artist’s observations are imbued with clarity, elegance, and strong expressive power.

Portrait d'homme de profil (Roger Bernard), 1946 Charcoal © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Organized by The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation together with Museum Projects Partnership, and received support from La Maison Francaise of NYU, Artists Rights Society.