The Old Magician

At 79, Old Master Henri Matisse was still leading the dance. In Paris' National Museum of Modern Art last week, Matisse's productions of 1947-48 went on display. Among them were 13 oils, 22 brush and ink drawings, four tapestries and 21 cut-&-paste compositions of colored paper. The critics were almost speechless with awe. "There are no words," wrote one, "with which to judge this old magician of pure color."

In his studio apartment at Nice, the old man was busy sketching Madonnas for a chapel in the Riviera village of Vence (TIME, June 20). "People don't realize," he murmured to a visitor, "how limited one's time is and how much there is to do in one lifetime. I have nothing to say, except 'look at my work.' "

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