Examining the public response to Matisse's work, this book views that his early-twentieth-century audience found in his painting a deeply disturbing challenge t... » 

Examining the public response to Matisse's work, this book views that his early-twentieth-century audience found in his painting a deeply disturbing challenge to concepts of the self, of the nation, and of the West. It refutes the popular view of Matisse as the painter of relaxed pleasures, the master of decorative line, and sensuous color. «