In the suggestion of the lines of the _sphere_, the _cone_, and the _cylinder_, as the _elements_ of all art, one recognizes the _alphabet of cubism_. But in reducing drawing to these elements Cézanne, without knowing it, simply repeated what Albert Durer printed in book form nearly four hundred years ago, and what the Chinese and Japanese had discovered centuries earlier.[25] The fact that the work of four men so different, Cézanne, Henri Rousseau, VanGogh, Gauguin, began to be appreciated about the same time, shows how ripe the Paris art world was for the reaction from Impressionism--for a great movement in _creative_ and _decorative_ art. * * * * * Matisse taught drawing and for a time--from 1895 to 1899--painted along conventional lines. Influenced by Cézanne he then broke with the academic and sought new light effects, effects quite different from those of the Impressionists. He sought to break with all ancient laws, and his use of color became and still is largely his own.[26] While his coloring is always interesting and his drawing facile, there is at times something about his work that is not satisfying, an atmosphere of superficiality. He is described, however, by those who know him as a painter of almost bourgeois earnestness and sincerity, taking himself and his work most seriously. At the same time many of his canvasses give the impression of having been executed in a spirit of sheer audacity. * * * * * To be sure, there is a rhythm and swing to some of his moving figures that is delightful, delightful in the elemental simplicity of the drawing and the seemingly--but only seemingly--naive coloring. Yet even with these canvases there is often the feeling, “With so much skill, why did he not do better?”--a feeling of disappointment, of dissatisfaction. One is disposed to agree with the opinion that Matisse’s “true gifts are those of address, of _souplesse_, of quick assimilation, of limited but easily acquired knowledge--essentially feminine gifts.”[A] _“On a beaucoup vanté le goût d’Henri Matisse. Il n’est pas niable, mais d’une qualité secondaire. C’est le goût d’une modiste; son amour de la conleur vaut un amour du chiffon.”_ He lives in a simple country house in a suburb out of Paris. His studio is painted white, within and without, with immense windows.[27] I found not a long-haired, slovenly-dressed, eccentric man, as I had imagined, but a fresh, healthy, robust, blonde gentleman, who looked even more German than French, and whose simple and unaffected cordiality put me directly at my ease.