31 December: Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse, the French impressionist painter was born on this date in 1869. Here are ten things you might not know about him.

1. He was born in Northern France, to a family of grain merchants.
2. He didn't set out to be an artist at all. He studied law and when he passed his law exams with distinction, began working as a law clerk. Then he got appendicitis. While he was on bed rest recovering from that, his mother bought him some art supplies to stave off the boredom. He loved painting so much that he decided on a change of career.
3. At a party held by his patron Gertrude Stein, he met a young artist called Pablo Picasso. The two became lifelong friends but also rivals. Matisse once said that their friendship was like a boxing match.
4. He loved both Cats and doves and kept both as pets (what could possibly go wrong, I ask myself?) He fed his three cats brioche every morning, and the doves became models, not only for him but for Picasso as well. Picasso's 1949 work, Dove of Peace was modelled on one of Matisse's birds.
5. As he got older and his health began to fail, painting grew more and more difficult for Matisse. He developed a technique he called "painting with scissors" in which he'd cut out paper shapes and arrange them into works of art with a stick.
6. He married his wife Amelie in 1894. They had two sons, but also brought up his daughter from an earlier relationship, Margeurite. His wife and daughter were often his models. Henri and Amelie were married for 41 years, untio she divorced him because she suspected he was having an affair with her Russian companion, Lydia. Lydia attempted suicide by shooting herself in the chest, but recovered and went to live with Matisse as his housekeeper and assistant.
7. Matisse was a big fan of African art and set up a studio in Tangier, Morocco.
8. When the Nazis invaded France in 1940, Henri's son Pierre begged him to leave and join him in New York where he owned a gallery. Matisse decided to stay put, because "If everyone who has any value leaves France, what remains of France?" Matisse wasn't Jewish and so provided he signed a statement saying he was "Aryan" he could go on exhibiting his work.
9. Matisse spent most of the war keeping out of the way in southern France but his family played active roles in the resistance. Pierre was involved with helping Jewish and anti-Nazi artists escape from France and put on an exhibition of their work, "Artists in Exile". Amelie worked as a typist for the resistance and went to prison for six months. Marguerite was even more active, and was arrested and tortured. She was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp but escaped when an Allied air raid held up the train, hiding in the woods until she was rescued.
10. He died in 1954 at the age of 84. At the time, he was working on a design for a stained glass Window for a church near the Rockefeller estate near New York City. There was a model of the design on his wall when he died, although the actual window wasn't put in place until 1956.

Golden Thread

Terry Kennedy is inexplicably and inexorably drawn to the small town of Fiveswood as a place to live and work after university. He is sure he has never visited the town before, but when he arrives there, it seems oddly familiar.

Fiveswood has a rich and intriguing history. Local legends speak of giants, angels, wolves, a local Robin Hood, but most of all, a knight in golden armour. Fiveswood's history also has a dark side - mysterious deaths blamed on the plague, a ghostly black panther, and a landslide which buried the smugglers' caves.

Terry buys an apartment in The Heights, a house which has been empty for decades, since the previous owner disappeared. Now he has finally been declared dead, developers have moved in and turned it into six flats. Terry has the odd feeling he has lived in this enigmatic house before. But that is not all. Since childhood, Terry has had recurring, disturbing dreams which have been increasing in frequency so that now, he has them almost every night. To his dismay, the people from his nightmares are his new neighbours.

Except, that is, for Eleanor Millbrook. She is refreshingly unfamiliar. After Terry saves her from a mysterious attacker, they become close. However, Terry's nightmares encroach more and more on his waking life, until they lead him to a devastating discovery about who he really is.

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Goodreads Review for Golden Thread:

This is a standalone book rather than one of the "super" series. Excellent characterization, a "keeps you guessing" plot, and some fairly deep philosophical issues ! Would recommend this to anyone, but especially recommended if you would like to see a completely new "take" on the people with powers / alternate futures / general oddness type story lines. Somebody make the film !