I’m a huge fan of Henri Matisse as evidenced by this set of leather pillows I made for a friend:

hence this mention of an article from last thursday’s edition of WWD detailing the upcoming publication of the second part of Matisse’s biography by Hilary Spurling. The book is entitled Matisse the Master and will be published by Knopf. From Women’s Wear Daily:

LONDON – If there was ever an artist in need of a spin doctor, it was Henri Matisse, who was maligned and misunderstood during his lifetime and for decades after his death.

Then his biographer Hilary Spurling came along and helped shift many of the perceptions of Matisse, especially in Europe. Spurling won rave reviews for her first volume of Matisse’s biography, “The Unknown Matisse: The Early Years 1869-1908.” The second volume, “Matisse The Master: The Conquest of Colour 1909-1954” (Alfred A. Knopf), has won equally fulsome praise in England, and is set for its U.S. debut this fall.

Her latest work tracks Matisse’s career and examines his close friendship with Pablo Picasso, his dramatic family dynamics and the relationships with his Russian models Olga Meerson and Lydia Delectorskaya. Spurling, Matisse’s only biographer, relied heavily on her exclusive and unrestricted access to decades of correspondence between Matisse and his friends and family.