Matisse quickly accepted the commission, saying that he had 'spent the night reading the book and had discerned how the eight episodes although only six were

Bussy lent Matisse a copy of Gilbert's seminal James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study (1930), thinking he would find it useful as a guide through the labyrinth. Matisse had not read the book and despite being sent a copy of the French translation by Joyce scholar Stuart Gilbert he was, according to his neighbour Dorothy Bussy (née Strachey, sister of Lytton Strachey), 'in a complete fog about it' (Goodwin, p. Within weeks of the lifting of the US ban on Ulysses (6 December 1933), Limited Editions Club impresario George Macy approached Joyce about a special edition of the book, and by February 1934 he was en route to Paris to speak to Matisse about illustrations. The episodes comprise: 'The Calypso Episode' 'Aeolus, Cave of the Winds' 'The Cyclops' 'The Episode of Nausicaä' 'The Circle Episode' and 'Symbolic Landscape: Ithaca'. 'Homeric in mood and composition, these etchings were made to serve as illustrations for six episodes in James Joyce's 'Ulysses' which have their counterparts in Homer's 'Odyssey'' (title page). The plates comprise the artist's illustrations for the Limited Editions Club edition of James Joyce's Ulysses, published that year. Signed limited portfolio, number 61 of 150 sets of six plates, each of which are signed numbered and titled by Matisse, for the first illustrated edition.

Ulysses illustrated