Viewing page 84 of 140

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-3-

I read last year in the Figaro Litteraire an interview with Henry Matisse, our great painter. He was at that time building a catholic chapel in Vence, South of France. And he said that he would like to build a "church full of gaiety, a place which will make people happy". But such a [[strikethrough]] si [[/strikethrough]] desire [[strikethrough]] contradicts complet [[/strikethrough]]is completely contradictory to the catholic spirit and the catholic teachings that professes that [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]]life is a valley of tears. After all, a catholic church is not a catholic ballroom, not a playground, not a museum. Here again we see how the confusion is great. That has nothing to do with the talent of Matisse who is without any doubt one of our greatest painters. But talent in itself could become a very dangerous thing. For example, Caruso could make me listen with very great delight to very bad music A very distinguished art historian lately in an article about religious art said that he wondered why the bird by Brancusi or [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] a painting by Rodko could not be put into a church. Here again the confusion is great. A church is not a museum. By telling you all these stories I want to show you how the confusion is great among the best of what we have today in this field and how specialists who should know what they have to do ignore completely their specialty.
I remember a [[strikethrough]] g [[/strikethrough]] great architect who built my house in Paris 25 years ago answering my remark that here the wall seems to be a little bit poor and maybe sculpture would give life to it "You want to spoil my wall". [[What a?]] pathetic exclamation! Lately I had the visit of an architect in my New York studio and we discussed collaboration between architect and sculptor. I said to him, showing a Romanesc virgin which is in my studio "Look at this Virgin, she is beautiful but she is taken away from the wall of her first destination and she doesn't have anymore her full significance." "You see," he said, "the sculptor needs our wall". "Yes", I answered, "without your wall my sculpture [[strikethrough]] ir [[/strikethrough]] is only a detail. But the same [[strikethrough]] is true of your wall [[/strikethrough]]