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| Chasing Matisse: A Year in France Living My Dream | 
 enlarge | Author: James Morgan
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $2.95
You Save: $22.05 (88%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (17 reviews)
Sales Rank: 600079
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 0743237544
Dewey Decimal Number: 759.4
EAN: 9780743237543
ASIN: 0743237544
Publication Date: March 29, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Who hasn't had the fanthasy of leaving his or her old life behind to start over? What would happen if you gave up your job, city, state, and routine to move to another part of the world? Critically acclaimed writer and aspiring painter James Morgan does just that. Risking everything, he and his wife shed their old, settled life in a lovingly restored house in Little Rock, Arkansas, to travel in the footsteps of Morgan's hero, the painter Henri Matisse, and to find inspiration in Matisse's fierce struggle to live the life he knew he had to live. Part memoir, part travelogue, and part biography of Matisse, Chasing Matisse proves that you don't have to be wealthy to live the life you want; you just have to want it enough.Morgan's riveting journey of self-discovery takes him, and us, from the earthy, brooding Picardy of Matisse's youth all the way to the luminous Nice of the painter's final years. In between, Morgan confronts, with the notebook of a journalist and the sketchpad of an artist, the places that Matisse himself saw and painted: bustling, romantic Paris; windswept Belle-ile off the Brittany coast; Corsica, with its blazing southern light; the Pyrenees village of Collouire, where color became explosive in Matisse's hands; exotic Morocco, land of the secret interior life; and across the sybaritic French Riviera to spiritual Vence and the hillside Villa Le Reve -- the Dream -- where the mature artist created so many of his masterpieces. A journey from darkness to light, Chasing Matisse shows us how we can learn to see ourselves, others, and the world with fresh eyes. We look with Morgan out of some of the same windows through which Matisse himself found his subjects and take great heart from Matisse's indomitable, life-affirming spirit. For Matisse, living was an art, and he never stopped striving, never stopped creating, never stopped growing, never stopped reinventing himself. "The artist," he said, "must look at everything as though he were seeing it for the first time." That's the inspiring message of renewal that comes through on every page of Chasing Matisse. Funny, sad, and defiantly hopeful, this is a book that restores our faith in the possibility of dreams.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Chasing Matisse March 3, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Chasing Matisse: A Year in France Living My Dream
What a load of pretentious nonsense! The author combines samples of his own work (which are child-like), a poor travelogue of France and a brief, dry biography of a great painter (with few original insights) in an offering that had me bored from page one. He asks for sympathy for his financially 'risk-taking' venture whilst telling us of his efforts to sell his house (at $79,000 under value) and fly his children over to France to celebrate Christmas whilst regailing us with descriptions of the expensive meals and swish hotels he stays in. We don't need the constant admiring prose for Henri's work - it speaks for itself.
 A book that befriends the artist in all of us September 2, 2007
This is a book I'm sure I'll reread many times. The author combines humor with depth, and the sense of adventure is inspiring. Right now I'm smiling, just remembering how pleasurable it was to read this book. author (unrelated to me) really did his research, too; I'm now thinking about Arnheim and Elins with renewed interest -- and I'll pursue some of the other books about Matisse as well.
The beauty of Art and fun of travel all in one... March 18, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Here I am trapped in a dull grey/brown Northeast winter when I picked up this book and went on a great trip! As an artist I really loved Mr. Morgan's passion for Matisse, for art in general and I loved his sketches! As a traveler who never gets to travel enough I loved the journey he took me on through France. As a matter of fact I'm so inspired that I'm heading to France this June and I'm going to take another long look at Matisse! So if you love art...this is a terrific book, if you love travel...this is a terrific book. If you love both then you're a terrific person who will really enjoy this book!
A great adventure of self-discovery March 11, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I'm an American living in France for over 5 years now and I am an amateur painter. And I really like Matisse. So I was really excited when I found this book. I really like the author's humor, he turns what could be boring descriptions of their trip into very funny tales. The book is a mix of a peek into their lives, their adventure in France, the characters they meet, and oh yes, Matisse. I learned a lot in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's sketches and his website.
However, all that said, the book left me wanting more. I got the impression that at the end the author simply got tired of writing or ran out of material. For example, their summer in france only gets a few pages. What was the impact of his search for Matisse? How did it impact his art? Did he just stop chasing Matisse 3 months before he came home? I also would have liked to see more of his sketches as they really helped to imagine the places they went, the hotel rooms, etc.
Overall it was a great book. If you are interested in France, Matisse, or painting, I highly recommend this book!
A Thoughtful Meditation on Travel, Art and Life October 2, 2005
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
The author, a writer and artist, is fascinated by the work of Matisse. He and his wife, also a writer, sell their house, leave their desk jobs and go off to France to follow in the footsteps of Matisse. The author chronicles their travels to the places that inspired Matisse - Paris, Collioure in the Pyrenees, Corsica, Belle-Ile off the coast of Britany and the South of France.
In these places the author learns not just to look but also to see. The facts of Matisse's life and his development as an artist are interwoven with the travel adventures of the author and his wife as they live their dream of starting over in a foreign country. A look into the soul of an artist and what we can learn from him if we seek to live the creative life, this book is vastly superior to the shallowness of "C'est La Vie" by Susie Gershman and her vacuous tale of leaving the US to live in Paris.
The only thing missing from "Chasing Matisse" is a map so that the reader can see the locations of the various places that are visited. It's also helpful to have on hand a copy of "Henri Matisse: A Retrospective", Museum of Modern Art 1992, while you read so that you can see the paintings that the author mentions extensively in the book.
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