The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

The Cyclops

1935

Henri Matisse

(French, 1869–1954)
America
softground etching
Platemark: 28.5 x 22.5 cm (11 1/4 x 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 41.8 x 32 cm (16 7/16 x 12 5/8 in.)
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1935.280.3
© Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Duthuit Vol.I, Matisse 239
Location: Not on view

Description

When asked to illustrate a new edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Henri Matisse chose to depict six episodes from The Odyssey, the ancient Greek epic by Homer that inspired Joyce. Here, we see Ulysses’s fight with the one-eyed giant Polyphemus. This print belongs to a portfolio published alongside the book by the Limited Edition Club. Its founder and editor, George Macy, commissioned the illustrations soon after a 1933 ruling lifting the US ban on Joyce’s novel, establishing that it was not obscene in a legal sense and had literary merit. Although Matisse’s decision was unpopular with Macy’s subscribers, his images made the publication one of the most sought-after illustrated books of the 1900s.
  • Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-September 8, 2024).
    From Block Books to Baskin: Artists as Illustrators. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 13-August 17, 1986).
    Prints Accessioned in 1935. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 14-November 8, 1936).
  • {{cite web|title=The Cyclops|url=false|author=Henri Matisse|year=1935|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1935.280.3