Paul Matisse (born 1933) is an artist and inventor known for his public art installations, many of which are interactive and produce sound. Matisse also invented the Kalliroscope.

Early life and education

Paul Matisse is the son of New York gallery owner Pierre Matisse, (the youngest son of painter

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

), and Alexina Sattler. His mother later divorced Pierre and married artist

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, becoming Alexina "Teeny" Duchamp. Thus Paul is both grandson of

, and the stepson of

. In 1954, Matisse graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, where he joined a long line of esteemed alumni who had lived in

Eliot House Eliot House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. It is one of the seven original houses at the college. Opened in 1931, the house was named after Charles William Eliot, who served as president of the universi ...

while at Harvard. Matisse studied at Harvard's

Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

, and worked briefly with

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing mo ...

Artistic career

Matisse worked in product development for

Arthur D. Little Arthur D. Little is an international management consulting firm originally headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1886 and formally incorporated in 1909 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who had discovered acetate. ...

. In 1962 he set off on his own, inventing (1966), patenting (1968), and ultimately manufacturing Kalliroscopes, which can display the complex and otherwise-invisible flow of liquids. After the death of his stepfather

in 1968, Matisse worked with his widowed mother Alexina "Teeny" Duchamp and curator

Anne d'Harnoncourt Anne Julie d'Harnoncourt (September 7, 1943 – June 1, 2008) was an American curator, museum director, and art historian specializing in modern art. She was the director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), a post she held fro ...

to implement the posthumous installation of Duchamp's artwork ''

Étant donnés ''Étant donnés'' (''Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas'', French: ''Étant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau / 2° le gaz d'éclairage'') is Marcel Duchamp's last major artwork, which surprised the art world because it believed he had g ...

'' at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Personal life

Matisse currently resides in a former Baptist church in

Groton, Massachusetts Groton is a town in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, within the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 11,315 at the 2020 census. It is home to two prep schools: Lawrence Academy at Groton, founded in 1 ...

. His daughter

Sophie Matisse Sophie Alexina Victoire Matisse (born February 13, 1965) is an American contemporary artist. Matisse initially gained notice for her series of ''Missing Person'' paintings, in which she appropriated and embellished upon, or subtracted from, reco ...

is an artist in New York City. His son, Alex Matisse, is a pottery artist and founder of East Fork Pottery in North Carolina. His granddaughter is actress Gaïa Jacquet-Matisse.

Selected public artworks

File:LaCoste.jpg, ''Meditation Bell'' (2012) File:Athens Olympic Bell.jpg, ''Olympic Bell'' for Athens Olympic Games (2004) File:Japanese American Memorial Bell.jpg, ''National Japanese American Memorial Bell'' (2001) File:Charlestown Bells.jpg, ''Charlestown Bells'' (2000) File:The Forest Bells.jpg, ''Forest Bells'' (1997) File:Musical+Fence0002+(2).jpg, ''Musical Fence'' (1980) File:Kendall Square station - Cambridge, MA - DSC05741.jpg, ''Kendall Band'' (1987) File:Calder+Mobile.jpg, ''Calder Mobile'' (1977) *''Meditation Bell'' (2012) - exhibited at Chateau la Coste in 2018 *''Olympic Bell'' (2004) - installation for the Athens Olympic Games *''Charlestown Bells'' (2000) – interactive musical sculpture on the

Charles River Dam The Charles River Dam is a flood control structure on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, located just downstream of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, near Lovejoy Wharf, on the former location of the Warren Bridge. His ...

between downtown

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown *''Memorial Bell'' (2001) – at the National Japanese-American Memorial to Patriotism in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

*''Forest Bells'' (1997)] – six vertical aluminum bells hanging from the limbs of oak trees on Groton Conservation Trust property in

*'' Kendall Band'' (1987) – interactive musical sculpture in the MBTA's Kendall/MIT subway station in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

*''Musical Fence'' (1980) – interactive musical sculpture once located in

, and now installed at the DeCordova Museum in

Lincoln, Massachusetts Lincoln is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The population was 7,014 according to the 2020 United States Census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits. The town, loc ...

. Another version is at the Montshire Museum of Science in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. *''Untitled (1976)'' -

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

's last major artwork, posthumously modified for installation by Paul Matisse

References

External links

Artist's personal website
1933 births Living people American artists American people of French descent Harvard University alumni Henri Matisse

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

People from Groton, Massachusetts {{US-artist-stub