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Matisse use of vibrant colour and dramatic layout, combine expertly to announce an artist's exhibition in Bourges in May of 1953, wonderfully titled "Les Peintres Temoins de leur Temps" (Painters as witnesses of their time)

"The abstracted simplicity of form and the flat areas of colour pattern which Matisse created with collages of paper during the period at the beginning of the 1950's mark one of the most inspired moments in his career as an artist. Rhythms of colour used in a manner which went far beyond the merely visual had been a vital element of his art from some 25 years earlier. However it was in the period of the 'cut-paper' compositions that he was able to see a way of taking them even further into the area of an independent non-descriptive, effectively abstract, role...All the prints from this 'cut-paper' period were created by Matisse making a 'maquette', which was then transferred to lithographic stones at the studio of Mourlot." (Weston)

During the 1950s the renowned French printer, Mourlot Freres, printed most of the "original" posters of the most important artists of the day. In 1959 they printed the series "Affiches Originales" for collectors. They are reduced lithographic versions of the "original" posters created by the contemporary masters, Picasso, Chagall, Braque, Matisse, Miro, Leger, and Dufy.