This publication was a joint effort by Matisse and author André Rouveyre, in memory of their common friend, the critic Guillaume Apollonaire (1880-1918), who died during the First World War. Although Apollonaire championed the Cubists, he also appreciated work by artists like Matisse whose interests diverged from Cubism. In a 1907 interview, the critic equated Matisse’s goal of plastic, or formal, expression with a poet’s search for lyric expression.