Paul Matisse (born 1933) is an artist and inventor known for his public art installations, many of which are interactive and produce sound. Matisse also invented the Kalliroscope.
Paul Matisse is the son of New York gallery owner Pierre Matisse, (the youngest son of painter Henri Matisse), and Alexina Sattler. His mother later divorced Pierre and married artist Marcel Duchamp, becoming Alexina "Teeny" Duchamp. Thus Paul is both grandson of Henri Matisse, and the stepson of Marcel Duchamp.
In 1954, Matisse graduated from Harvard University.[1] Matisse studied at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, and worked briefly with Buckminster Fuller.
Matisse worked in product development for Arthur D. Little.[2] In 1962 he set off on his own, inventing (1966), patenting (1968), and ultimately manufacturing Kalliroscopes, which can display the complex and otherwise-invisible flow of liquids.[3]
After the death of his stepfather Marcel Duchamp in 1968, Matisse worked with his widowed mother Alexina "Teeny" Duchamp and curator Anne d'Harnoncourt to implement the posthumous installation of Duchamp's artwork Étant donnés at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.[4]
Matisse currently resides in a former Baptist church in Groton, Massachusetts.[1] [2] His daughter Sophie Matisse is an artist in New York City. His son, Alex Matisse, is a pottery artist and founder of East Fork Pottery in North Carolina.[5] His granddaughter is actress Gaïa Jacquet-Matisse.[6]