FAUVISM
1904 - 1908
"Nobility Grows out of contained emotion."
- George Braque, Meaning in Modern Art, 1917
A Picture Window into Fauvism
Amidst the effervescent slashes of paint lived the “wild beasts”. Rejecting the representational color choices of the Impressionists, yet embracing their love of nature, the Fauvists frenziedly forged works of wild vivacity. Using pure pigments they created strident compositions of what would be traditional subject matters; the female nude, portraits and landscapes. The intuition and individualism of each respective artist elevated these classic subject matters in ways that their academic work could not allow.
The Fauves abandoned their tertiary pallets and looked inward for artful direction. Color no longer belonged to the sense of sight, but to the fervor of the mind. Emotions compelled Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck, and the rest of their beastly comrades to their artistic “Coup de Maître”. They simplified their forms and heightened their values with concentrated pigments which shaped images of anti-naturalism. They built forms with blots of oil, distinct from the peppering of pointillism, and let their canvas shine through. The artists’ tenacious views on color opened a window to new possibilities.
Realism is simply illusory, and truth is in the material. The Fauvists shattered through the Renaissance notions of image making, and in its place erected a wall of reality. Paint is paint
Matisse The Dance II 1910 Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia Created a year after the first Dance, Dance II was a much enlarged recreation of a study Matisse had done the prior year. Dance II juxtaposes the fauvist characteristic of expressive gestures with its use of flat figures and background. However, the movement of these dancing nude figures reinforce the free and expressive emotion that is prevalent throughout fauvism.
André Derain Landscape near Chatou 1904 Oil on panel Private collection In depicting his birth place, Derain captured the dawning light of morning. Chatou comes to life between the frenzied brushstrokes. Though the application of the paint itself is choppy, the calmness of nature breaths through. At first glance the brilliance of the colors may seem severe. Yet, when it is viewed as an image of the heart, rather than that of the eye, the onlooker can grasp at its beauty.
Henri Matisse The Open Window 1905 Oil on Canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Matisse creates an illusion of splendorous depth into which an onlooker can embark. A Mediterranean harbor materialized out of blotches of oil projects out of a two dimensional form. The formation of an illusory vista within a plane turns this piece into an ingenious metaphor for image making. The artist welcomes the viewer into an aperture of color, a true picture window.
Andre Derain Woman in a Chemise 1906 Oil on canvas Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen Derain spent the summer in Coillioure with Matisse, exploring color and form, and painting their subjects in bright colors and a hurried fashion, much like "wild beasts." Painted in 1905, this work was featured in the Salon d'Automne of 1905, but it was not received well. The bright red and oranges contrasting against the cool blue hues, looked ghastly to those present.
Henri Matisse Green Stripe 1905 Oil and Tempera on canvas Satens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen A scandalous spine of acidic green splits the face of Matisse’s wife. The artist combined the familiarity of portraiture with vividly inventive color. No longer was the purpose of color merely to imitate the perceivable world, but to free the mind of the trappings of reality. Raw emotionalism guided the artist’s mind to a distinctive success.
André Derain Turning Road, L'Estaque 1906 Oil on canvas The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Representing a landscape familiar to Cézanne, Derain shapes his paint into a blazing woodland. Straying from realism, the artist relied on impulse and intuition to give new light to this common setting. The trees alternate in temperature and are enraptured by a golden bend in the road as an ode to Gauguin. Derain creates a pulsating vitality in his work, resulting in masterful fruition.
André Derain Bacchic Dance 1906 Watercolor and pencil on paper (sketch and study). 19 1/2 x 25 1/2 in. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller The Museum of Modern Art, New York. What separates Derain’s Bacchic Dance from other fauvist pieces is its use of soft colors and stripped down forms. Using watercolor on paper, as opposed to oil on canvas, creates a subtler approach to fauvist ideas like loud expressive colors. Derain draws attention to the figure studies by using pencil.
Albert Marquet Posters at Trouville 1906 National Gallery of Art, Washington Marquet often uses sea side landscapes of France for his work. While some of his paintings portray cluttered or busy areas, this setting shows a pace of leisure against the barrage of signs in the background. The vibrant uses of blue balance out the warm temperature of the golden foreground, making for a comfortable and enjoyable atmosphere.
Maurice de Vlaminck The Girl from Rat Mort 1906 Oil on canvas Private Collection The Girl from Rat Mort is a perfect example of how fauvists believed in using color to communicate an emotion and expressive gestures to imply form. This simplified nude is placed in the center of a setting so simplified it had become an abstract background where the color and brush strokes are used to portray the feeling of an area.
Maurice de Vlaminck Tugboat on the Seine, Chatou 1906 National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. The bold colors and the brash brushwork gives an effect that the painting was not painted but chiseled away, dappled with light. The contrast between the warm and cool paints creates energy flowing through like the river portrayed. The background buildings are simplified and painted more calm than the foreground, making the foreground stronger.