Author Description

"This exhibition explores an encounter between Henri Matisse (1869-1954), the great French modernist painter, and the spiritual universe of Arctic peoples. Seen through the windows of Matisse's mask-like drawings, which were modeled on photographs of Inuit, Yup'ik and Kalaalliit people, we find an expansive Arctic reality. Matisse's almost accidental introduction to the Indigenous arts of Alaska--which came through his family, and from other French artists enraptured by Native American art and thought--struck a deep chord in him, which resonated in his own confrontations with mortality and legacy. In the exhibition 'Yua: Henri Matisse and the Inner Arctic Spirit', we endeavor to articulate an inclusive and expanding concept of art from the early twentieth century. The history of what is called Western art (also Euro-American or North Atlantic art) include manifold influences from other cultures, some of which have rarely been understood beyond purely formal comparisons. The presentation of 'Yua' places emphasis on Native American cultural traditions, and shows how Matisse, and younger artists and writers among the Surrealist circle, fell under the spell of fascination--not just with the physical forms of Native American art but also with its conceptual and ceremonial bases"--Page 57.