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'Matisse Stories' offers look into 20th century art

Author A.S. Byatt is proof that a picture cannot only speak a thousand words, but can do so in a style of language that is concise, beautiful and abundant with meaning.

"The Matisse Stories," (Vintage, $10), by the celebrated author A.S. Byatt, is a book of three short stories each inspired by a work by the early 20th century painter Henri Matisse. Through these works of art, Byatt explores such themes as perception, sight and the emotions that can be so powerfully created through our perceptions.

"Medusa's Ankles" is a deceptively simple piece inspired by one of Matisse's languishing nudes.

The entirety of the story takes place at Lucian's, the hair salon in which the nude is hung and where Susannah is a regular customer. Attracted in the beginning by the work and by the rosy theme of the salon, Susannah, a respected and aging Classicist, seeks for herself the same qualities of beauty found in the nude.

Coming back to the salon, a symbolic fountain of youth, she tries to regain her lost youth and beauty, and when her salon changes drastically, her illusion follows. Her reaction is both fascinating and sad.

Matisse's "Le silence habite des maisons" inspired "Art Work," in which the words Byatt does not say are as important as the words that are conveyed. This story is about three artists of different capacities.

Debbie, a computer designer, is also the mediator between two antithetical artists - Robin, her husband and Mrs. Brown, their housekeeper.

Through these characters the reader gets a brilliant exploration of the power and meaning of perception and color. Robin's fixed notion of how colors work together, "how certain combinations have certain effects," of rules, of complementary colors juxtapose dramatically to Mrs. Brown's vision of color as an explosive celebration.

It is for good reason that A.S. Byatt has become such a notable writer. Her prose is so rich that each word plays an integral role in the story. "The Matisse Stories," like everything else she has created, is as vivid as a painting.