Fauvism
Fauvism got both its start and its name at a 1905 exhibition held at the Paris Salon d'Automne where it was heralded as a 'new style' under the unofficial leader of the group, Henri Matisse who was to become the most enduring Fauvist. The works of Fauvist artists, marked by audacious transpositions, forceful brushstrokes and the emotional use of color was inspired by Impressionism and the works of Van Gogh and Signac.
Like other modernists such as Pablo Picasso, they sought to break with traditional representations in art. Rather than merely challenge the viewer, however, their vigorous vision which included discordant color groupings and bold shapes were meant to please and instill a sense of well being.
Although the group was short-lived, Fauvists were among the first of 20th century artists to be inspired by non-Western art such as Japanese prints, Near Eastern textiles, pottery and paintings. Maurice de Vlaminck, considered one of the boldest of the Fauvists, was quoted as saying, that Fauvism "was not an invention, an attitude, but a manner of being, of acting, of thinking, of breathing." [1]
'Les Fauves'
After their first exhibition in 1905, the art critic, Louis Vauxcelles coined - what was initially a perjorative term - for the loose assemblage of artists - the Fauves, a French word meaning "wild beasts." Gustave Moreau, early on the movement's teacher, was a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and a Symbolist painter. He pushed his students to think outside the lines of formal art and to follow their vision.
Andre Derain, who painted Fauvist views of London's city visas (Charing Cross Bridge, London 1905) said of their style:
Fauvism was our ordeal by fire...Those were the years of photography. This may have influenced us, and played a part in our reaction against anything resembling a snapshot of life...Colors became charges of dynamite. They were expected to discharge light....with our flat tones we even preserved a concern for mass, giving for example to a spot of sand a heaviness it did not possess, so as to bring out the fluidity of the water, the lightness of the sky...The great merit of this method was to free the picture from all imitative and conventional contact." [2]
Style and themes
a style of broad, short strokes of bright contrasting colors. Fauvists paintings were notably festive and incorporated brightly striped flags, sail boats and beach scenes. Holidays were another favorite theme of turn of the century artists and teh Fauvists were no exception. Whereas earlier genres of art had portrayed ordinary people in day to day activities such as Van Gogh's the Fauvists sought out colorful locales.
Fauvists were attracted to bold patterns adn intense colors such as those found typically on a boardwal the by the seashore. London cityscapes inspired by earlier works of Monet also were popular as were the resort towns of Saint Tropez and ??
Influences
The leaders of the movement, Moreau's top students, were Henri Matisse and André Derain. Their paintings, for example Matisse's 1909 La Danse or Derain's The Two Barges,[1] use powerful blues, oranges, reds or other forceful colors to draw the eye. Their disciples included Albert Marquet, Charles Camoin, the Belgian painter Henri Evenepoel, Jean Puy, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Othon Friesz, Georges Rouault, the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen, the Swiss painter Alice Bailly and Picasso's partner in Cubism, Georges Braque.
Fauvism, as a movement, had no concrete theories, and was short lived, beginning in 1905 and ending in 1907, they only had three exhibitions. Matisse, the most enduring Fauvist has said that he that he wanted to create art to delight.
Legacy
cubism and modern expressionism
The French painter Emile Bellet cites Fauvism as an influence.Henri Manguin, Kees Van Dongen and Charles Camoin.
Fauve paintings
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Rewald, John. The John Hay Whitney Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington. ISBN 0894680668
- Tansey, Richard G. and Fred S. Kleiner,Gardner's Art Through the Ages Harcourt Brace, 1996. ISBN 0155011413
Further reading
- William H. Gerdts (1995). The Color of Modernism: The American Fauves. New York: Hollis Taggart Galleries.
- Sarah Whitfield (1991). Fauvism. London: Thames And Hudson.
External links
- Fauve Painting from the Permanent Collection at the National Gallery of Art
- Fauvism: The Wild Beasts of Early Twentieth Century Art
- Fauvism
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