Between 1935 and his death at midcentury, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) undertook many decorative projects and commissions. These include mural paintings, stained glass, ceramic tiles, lead crystal pieces, carpets, tapestries, fashion fabrics, and accessories--work that has received no significant treatment until now. By presenting a wealth of new insights and unpublished material, including from the artist's own correspondence, John Klein, an internationally...

"'The problem of the house is a problem of the epoch,' declared the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier; architecture, he felt, should focus on everyday life and produce housing that is 'made for living in.' In The Problem of the House, Alex Anderson explores a group of like-minded designers in France, the architects-decorateurs, who also committed themselves to designing and equipping the modern house. Most began as decorative artists, interior designers,...