Matson referred to his collection of works as his “Book of Hours,” the title inspired by the books of hours created by artists in medieval Europe in the era of manuscript illumination. These medieval works were essentially illustrated calendar books containing scenes of everyday life related to the time of year along with a schedule of prayers. This seems an appropriate title for his collection as much of it reflects the life of the artist. The works form a time line of experiences over a period of decades. The memories are variously uplifting, contemplative, haunting, or even sorrowful at times.

            Matson’s creations, however, are much more modern in their designs than the medieval title may suggest. The sketches show how Matson was able to envision everyday things in ways that only an artist can. Pablo Picasso said in 1956, “a painting is a printing machine for our memory.”  The quick strokes of the tool feel almost as though Matson was in a rush to commit his visions to paper, before the memory had escaped him.

            The collages are an entirely different story. Despite the fact that they were mostly preceded by a number of sketches, as you will see throughout this book, the mood of the collages is utterly different from the sketches. Whereas the sketches feel hurried, the collages show an almost unending amount of patience and care. Each piece was painstakingly razor cut and carefully applied to the backing. Some of the miniscule additions are smaller than a thumbnail. They have an almost tribal feel about them with a sense of darkness trapped between the layers.

            Perhaps these sensations of foreignness and shadowy tone were not accidental, but part of the artist’s self-therapy. It is an established fact that the works are largely autobiographical. The ink sketch entitled “My Book” was a portrait of his children and “Young Girl on a Bus” was created based on a chance encounter that occurred when he had met his daughter at a bus stop. Many of the images have known stories behind them; for those that do not, the backstory is tucked away in the paper—even if it is unknown to us today.

            Matson believed that the traditional church was too cosmopolitan and not for the working man, however, there is no escaping the spirituality present in much of Matson’s work—as the Greek Christians discovered, that God was better expressed in a work of art than in rationalistic discourse.  A realization that Karen Armstrong wrote in her 1994 book, A History of God,  “. . . God is approached through the imagination and can be seen as a kind of art form, akin to the other great artistic symbols that have expressed the ineffable mystery, beauty and value of life.”

             This website honors the story of Carl Matson as told through his own art, but it also serves as a reminder to each and every one of us that we should embrace the fleeting moments in life and that it is possible to find beauty even in the darkest of times. We hope that you will enjoy the story as well as the art and share its lessons with others.