Flea market treasure find / Inspired by Matisse

Anonymous, 1980 / Henri Matisse, 'A Bottle of Schiedam', 1896

I cannot resist flea markets. And I cannot resist books. So you can just imagine what our apartment looks like. Exactly.

I gave up on the ideal of living in a Zen house long ago. I like the aesthetics and the illusion that it will make me stylish and peaceful, and yes, every now and then I am seduced by an occasional World of Interiors editorial, but I generally came to accept that I'm not ready to live in a Jil Sander shop environment and I am fine with it. It's not according to my nature. At least not now. I simply like (to find) things. And books. And I have a life.

Zen will be my next life. I promise.

Yesterday I found another great book. With paintings of Henri Matisse, cataloguing his work in Soviet Art collections. The book dates back from 1978, so it might not be up to date anymore. But then who knows. I was never in Russia. It is well documented, with a lot of cross references in the back. A treasure for the amateur art historian. When I took off my gloves to leaf through the pages to be really sure that it would be worthwhile carrying some extra kilos around town for the rest of the afternoon (with books I have very low standards, I admit), I made a cute discovery... somebody else had been inspired by Matisse some 30 years ago... Copying the masters, you can't start young enough.

The back of one of the drawings is dated 5-X-80. There is also a name, but it's hard to decipher. I think Gabriele comes closest. Should somebody recognize his or her early artistic attempts, let me know and I will return them to you. Great drawings. I hope you went on with it.

Henri Matisse, 'Woman in Green', 1909 / Anonymous, 1980

Anonymous, 1980 / Henri Matisse, 'Conversation', 1909

Anonymous, 1980 / Henri Matisse, 'Still life with Shell on black Marble', 1940

Henri Matisse, 'Young Woman in blue Blouse', 1939 / Anonymous, 1980

Book cover, Aurora-Kunstverlag, Leningrad, 1978