Side Plate SetAquatint Portraits
Aquatint Portraits
A Side Plate Set featuring four faces from Henri Matisse’s series of aquatint portraits
Side Plate SetAquatint Portraits
Aquatint Portraits
A Side Plate Set featuring four faces from Henri Matisse’s series of aquatint portraits
Design
A portrait in the hands of Matisse distills the essence of the subject into fluid lines, alive with quiet emotion. Alex Matisse and his creative team selected these portraits specifically as decorative decals on the Side Plate in Panna Cotta, knowing the aquatint portraits would translate well to ceramics.
Designs available in the Side Plate Set:
- Patitcha souriante (Patitcha Smiling)
- Nadia aux cheveux lisses (Nadia With Smooth Hair)
- Nadia au regard sérieux (Nadia With a Serious Look)
- Bédouine au grand voile (Bedouine With Headscarf)
- Pairs with La Sirène & Black Mountain
- For use as functional dinnerware or as a decorative wall hanging
Our pottery is made by humans in Asheville, North Carolina and reduction fired in large gas kilns. Any differences in glaze applications and surfaces are there to embrace.
Details
- Dimensions: 8.5" x 1"
- 1 Side Plate weighs 1 lb 4 oz
- Stoneware
- Decals produced in France
- Formed and fired in North Carolina
Care Instructions:
East Fork pottery is built for daily use—it's food-safe, non-toxic and made to last. The Matisse Collection merges art with function—use it as everyday dinnerware or display it as decorative wall hangings.
To prolong the life of your Matisse Collection pieces, we recommend hand-washing and avoiding the microwave and oven.
With constant use, plates and bowls might accumulate mild cutlery marks. These can be buffed off with warm water and scouring powder such as Bar Keeper’s Friend.
Bédouine au grand voile, 1947
Patitcha souriante, 1947
Nadia au regard sérieux, 1948
Nadia aux cheveux lisses, 1948
© 2025 Succession H. Matisse / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
About the Artworks
Made by Henri Matisse in 1947 using aquatint—a printmaking technique that creates tonal effects by using acid and etched lines. Here, we see the subjects’ features depicted with a minimum of bold sweeps of black brushed directly on the copper plate.
About The Collection
When I founded East Fork 15 years ago it was a deliberate choice to leave Matisse out of the name. The legacy of my great-grandfather had followed me around for 20 years and I wanted out. I had a feeling that if I tucked myself away in the woods, something was going to emerge and it would free me.
As East Fork took shape and form, a peculiar thing began to happen: no one had any idea that below the colorful pots there was any connection at all to the stern and famous Frenchman on my father’s side of the family.
And so many years later, I slowly welcomed him back in. First with a vibrant red glaze that nodded to The Red Studio, and culminating now, with the collection before you. Through careful and meticulous collaboration with my brother at Les Héritiers Matisse, the company protecting the integrity of Matisse’s work, we worked to ensure our representations of Matisse’s art were in congruence with the originals, that the blue in the cut-outs was as close to the original gouache as could be, and every splatter of ink in the aquatints was captured. To accompany it, we developed La Sirène, a new blue that’s our own nod to the iconic color we worked so hard to capture in the artwork.
This year much of his work enters the U.S. public domain, and this collection in part came to be as a way of marking that moment, and presenting it on our forms in as true and pure and unadulterated a way as possible.
Celebrate Henri Matisse’s bold, joyful spirit with a pottery collection inspired by his love of color, shape and movement.
