By the book with Henri Matisse.

• Position: What's New? - "The Art Books of Henri Matisse" exhibition in Portland, Maine - Brief article

"The Art Books of Henri Matisse," on view through Dec. 31 at the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, features one of the preeminent modernist artists of the 20th century, and offers a profound glimpse into the relationship between textual and visual imagery.

The exhibition showcases four books by the pioneering French artist, including his renowned and highly influential Jazz. Even those deeply familiar with Matisse's paintings will thrill to explore this remarkable side of his practice, which bears the artist's signature energy, elegance, and color, but seen here in lithographs, etchings, pochoir (stencil) prints, and linocuts.

Artists' books--limited-edition publications featuring original works of art--became increasingly popular in Paris during the first decades of the 20th century, when a growing group of educated, bourgeois collectors sought new ways to acquire works by leading contemporary artists. Matisse, like many avant-garde painters, worked in the medium to extend the popularity of his art and explore new techniques.

Using the book medium as an extension of his creative...