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The Stock Market Will Crash at Least 35% When China Attacks. Learn the 3 Steps You Need to Protect Your Retirement and One Stock that Could Soar 2,476% in Nine Months. [WSW Logo]( At times, our affiliate partners reach out to the Editors at Wall Street Wizardry with special opportunities for our readers. The message below is one we think you should take a close, serious look at. [devider] Facing a creative slump in his later years, Henri Matisse was transformed by a challenging commission. It changed the course of his life – and art history – forever, writes Diane Bernard. I In 1930, Henri Matisse, one of the giants of 20th-Century art, found himself in a discouraging creative slump. At the age of 60, the painter had been living in Nice, France, for 13 years, after spending years in Paris as an enfant terrible of the city's avant garde art world. Isolated from the buzz of the Paris painting scene, Matisse focused on depicting alluring female models in interior studio setups, using vivid patterns and sparkling colours lit by the Mediterranean light. As he fell into a stylistic repetition, some critics, along with Matisse himself, wondered if the once-radical artist had lost his edge. "I have sat down several times to do some [painting]," he wrote to his daughter, Marguerite, in 1929. "But in front of the canvas, I am at a loss for ideas." More like this: - The portrait that questions history - The women who redefined colour - Why we're fascinated by art fakes Now, a gorgeous, provocative exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art shows how Matisse broke free of his painting stagnation in the late 1920s, and transformed into a revived decorative artist during the 1930s. Matisse in the 1930s is the first major exhibition to look at the painter's evolution during this phase of his long, creative life. Presenting 143 works, it offers a rare opportunity to explore Matisse's process as he worked through a productive decline – especially relevant today, after many artists experienced isolation and creative paralysis during the Covid-19 pandemic. Curated by Matthew Affron of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cécile Debray of Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris and Claudine Grammont of Musée Matisse Nice, the exhibition travels to France in March and along the way asks, how does an artist forge ahead after a creative slump? What does it take to maintain a creative drive over a lifetime? A recent Americans for the Arts study found that 64% of 20,000 artists surveyed said they experienced a decrease in their creative productivity during the pandemic. More than half said their decline was due to stress, anxiety and depression about the state of the world. Matisse's creative painting output fell during the start of a world-wide economic depression, the rise of fascism in Europe and, more immediately, a personal sense that his approach to easel painting was in crisis. The exhibition shows how Matisse – pictured in 1951 – broke free of creative stagnation and transformed as an artist in the 1930s (Credit: Alamy) The exhibition shows how Matisse – pictured in 1951 – broke free of creative stagnation and transformed as an artist in the 1930s (Credit: Alamy) Organised chronologically, Matisse in the 1930s begins with a look at the Nice period, exemplified by his voluptuous Odalisque with Grey Trousers (1927). A seductive model in harem pants lays on a green bedroll, surrounded by brilliant red and yellow wall patterns. The touchstone painting is quite stunning, as are others in this section. But after leaving the room filled with pleasing nude after nude, we see a fixation setting in. It seems that outside of the noisy Paris art world, Matisse had perhaps become complacent late in his career, turning inwards, painting interior studio worlds in traditional perspective, illuminated by the striking Mediterranean sun. It looked as though Matisse had internalised what the critics were saying: his best years as a renegade painter were behind him "Fixation can play a part in creative blocks," says Yale University professor and creativity expert, Jonathan S Feinstein, author of the forthcoming book, Creativity in Large-Scale Contexts. For a creative person, Feinstein tells BBC Culture, fixation means that an artist has been using a certain mindset, set of tools, themes or styles and then becomes fixated on this way of seeing the world and creating." It can be difficult psychologically to break the fixation because this way of thinking has been reinforced in your mind over years of thinking about, in this case for Matisse, his approach to painting," adds Feinstein. The 1927 Odalisque with Grey Trousers, though beautiful, showed how the painter had become creatively paralysed (Credit: Musée de l'Orangerie / H Matisse / ARS) The 1927 Odalisque with Grey Trousers, though beautiful, showed how the painter had become creatively paralysed (Credit: Musée de l'Orangerie / H Matisse / ARS) And the critics at the time noticed. By 1927, they viewed Matisse as "the ageing painter of the odalisques," according to the exhibition's catalogue, "the man André Breton described as 'a discouraging and discouraged old lion'." Furthermore, his easel painting output slackened and between 1928 and 1929, he produced only a few oil works on canvas, though he was still drawing and working in sculpture. It looked as though Matisse had internalised what the critics were saying: his best years as a renegade painter were behind him. Creativity maven Julia Cameron, whose 1992 book, The Artist's Way, has helped thousands of artists around the world harness and maintain their creativity after a block, notes that even artists as renowned as Matisse can internalise criticism and fall into a slump. "This is true even if we've had wonderful reviews in the past," she tells BBC Culture. One of the world's most renowned contemporary artists, Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, who was recently in London's Hyde Park giving away art to support global refugees, says he went through a similar creative block when he moved from the US back to China in 1993, albeit without the criticism that Matisse faced. After 10 years of producing notable photography while studying art in New York, upon his move in 1993,"I became very confused because I could not find an appropriate relationship with the Chinese culture, although I was both familiar and unfamiliar with it," he tells BBC Culture. "I actually wanted to shun it but couldn't process how." The renowned contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei went through a similar creative block when he moved from the US back to China in 1993 (Credit: Alamy) The renowned contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei went through a similar creative block when he moved from the US back to China in 1993 (Credit: Alamy) Ai needed to remain in China to work through his block. But at the end of the 1920s, when Matisse realised he needed to revitalise his creativity, he began to travel, first to Tahiti and then the US. The US abstract installation artist Judy Pfaff, who was heavily influenced by Matisse when she started painting in the 1970s, says travel helps many artists like herself to reinvigorate creativity when feeling stuck. "Travel has kept me moving forward," the MacArthur Foundation Award-winner tells BBC Culture. "Whenever I'm in a new place, be it India or China, that gets incorporated into my work." Finding a new style After touring around the US by train, in the autumn of 1930 Matisse went to Philadelphia to meet collector Albert Barnes at his educational foundation in one of the city's suburbs. There, Barnes lightly confronted the ageing painter, pointing out that his Nice paintings were sensuous and appealing, but a bit lightweight compared to earlier works, according to Cynthia Carolan, a docent at the Barnes Foundation, now located in the heart of Philadelphia. Barnes offered Matisse a commission: to create a painting that would fit that massive arches above the windows in his new gallery. Matisse accepted the commission and, in turn, faced an enormous challenge. Firstly, he had never created anything this large, Carolan notes: the area of the museum for the mural was about 45ft (13.7m) wide and three separate canvases were needed to fit above three windows. Secondly, he had never had to make a painting fit architecturally accurate proportions, which is much more complicated than painting on a portable canvas. This Unknown Defense Company is SEVERELY Undervalued [Drone]( There are very few opportunities like this in today's bear market... But our analysts identified a tiny defense company landing billions of dollars in contracts every year. The Russia-Ukraine war has greatly increased demand for their secret laser systems. And a ["Strong Buy" Alert]( has just been issued. [Get the Name of the company Here ]( All the best, Simmy Adelman Editor, Behind the Markets [WSW footer logo]( You are receiving this e-mail because you have expressed an interest in the Financial Education niche on one of our landing pages or sign-up forms on our website. If you {EMAIL} received this e-mail in error and would like to report spam, simply send an email to abuse@wallstreetwizardry.com. You’ll receive a response within 24 hours. 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