Enjoy.Ĭomplement this rare and unusual edition with Salvador Dalí’s little-known Alice in Wonderland illustrations. The Matisse drawings inside it, of course, are the most priceless of its offerings - doubly so because, for all their beauty, they’re a tragicomedy of quasi-collaboration. His subjects were mostly domestic or figurative, and a distinct Mediterranean verve presides in the treatment. illustrated books, and forgotten out-of-print books from years gone by.

He was the leader of the Fauvist movement in the 1900s, and he pursued the expressiveness of color throughout his career. as Sherlock Holmes, ancient Greek literature such as the Ulysses, and so. His fears were justified - Matisse turned in drawings based on six episodes from Homer’s epic poem Odyssey, evidently having assumed that Joyce’s masterwork was also based on the ancient Greek hero Odysseus, known as Ulysses in Roman mythology.Īfter Open Culture flagged the book, I gathered up my year’s worth of lunch money and was able to grab one of the last copies available online - a glorious leather-bound tome with 22-karat gold accents, gilt edges, moire fabric endpapers, and a satin page marker. Henri Matisse is often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century. Joyce was thrilled that an artist of Matisse’s stature would illustrate his masterwork, but worried the artist might not actually read the book, which confounded even Carl Jung. In 1935, American publisher George Macey offered the great Henri Matisse $5,000 to create as many etchings as this budget would afford for a special illustrated edition of Ulysses. Bloomsday - the world’s foremost holiday of talking about books you haven’t read - may come and go, but a rare gem calls for extending the Joyce-related celebrations a little while longer.

Ulysses illustrated