ART HISTORY 132 Fauvism (French Expressionism)

Fauvism (c ) principal artists: Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck, Dufy definition: “the wild beasts” –pejorative label coined by critic Louis Vauxcelles –anything but an opponent –general tone far from unfavorable; emphasized his close association w/ artists demise: Cezanne retrospective 1907 presented at Salon d’Automne changed emphasis to concern w/ form over color context: Anarchism –definition: political theory that aims to create a society w/out political, economic or social hierarchies –aim: to oppose government & capitalism –methodology: critiques current society, while at same time offers vision of potential new society –Fauves: purely artistic radicalism subject matter does not approach urban & labor issues color as “sticks of dynamite” (Derain)

Henri Matisse ( ) training: –student of Redon –closely studied work of Manet and Cezanne bought a small Cézanne Bathers in 1899 –became interested in Divisionism (c. 1904) became friends w/ Signac & painted w/ St. Tropez role: leader of Fauves (“The Wild Beasts”) tendency: Romantic tradition aim: expressiveness of color motto: –art as being like “a good armchair” –“Instinct … thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better”

Matisse influence of Signac: –subject: pastoral & classical landscapes (c. 1890s) in decades before 1880, avant-garde painters rarely depicted France’s southern shore –due, in part, to cultural affiliation between southern France and academic classicism –linked w/ cultural and political conservatism represent anarchist ideal of natural order and harmony that would be found in golden age to come radicalizes seemingly innocuous depictions –Matisse’s Luxe, calm et volupte ( ) title inspired by Baudelaire’s “L’invitation al Voyage” dreamy idyll of languorous nudes far less specified by time, place or politics “mixed” brushwork & completely arbitrary use of color condemned as a lifeless theory of painting more belligerent critics recommended Matisse exile himself to “land of the Bushmen,” where he’d surely be “taken for a master”

Matisse Green Stripe (Madame Matisse) –c –brushwork: painterly rejects finesse of Impressionism rejects Post-Impressionist dots & dashes variation of Post-Impressionist patchy, impasto application (e.g., Cezanne) –forms: outlined w/ thick, dark contours –introduced by Post- Impressionism (e.g., Gauguin, van Gogh) retains naturalistic proportions –composition: stable –color: combination of arbitrary & naturalistic flesh tones –light/shadow: nearly absent

(Left) Matisse’s Fauvist Green Stripe (1905) vs. (right) Bank of America advertisement “See How You’ll Look When You Retire” (2014)

Matisse Woman in a Hat (1905) –brushwork: painterly rejects Post-Impressionist dots & dashes closer to patchiness of Cezanne –form: outlined w/ thick, dark contours –introduced by Post- Impressionism (e.g., Gauguin, van Gogh) retains naturalistic proportions –color: vibrant expressive & arbitrary does not correspond to reality intends to shock viewer psychologically obviates need for light/shadow

(Left) Matisse’s Woman in a Hat (1905) vs. (right) Matisse’s Red Madras Headdress (1907)

Matisses’s The Joy of Life ( )

MATISSE’s Fauvist The Joy of Life ( ) vs. TITIAN’s Venetian Renaissance Bacchannal (c. 1525)

Matisse’s Harmony in Red (1908)

Matisse’s The Dance (1909)

Matisse’s The Red Studio (1911)

Andre Derain ( ) born at Chatou –artists’ colony at the gates of Paris –quiet, picturesque spot spared from industrial activity –father was a successful patissier (pastry chef) and town councillor –middle-class education training: –first lessons in painting in 1895 from old friend of his father’s and of Cézanne’s –Académie Carriere (1898) in Paris, where he met Matisse –June 1900 he met Maurice de Vlaminck, and formed a close friendship with him rented a disused restaurant in Chatou which they used as a studio often shocked their neighbors w/ their antics –meanwhile, copying in the Louvre and visiting exhibitions of contemporary art extremely impressed by Van Gogh retrospective at Bernheim-Jeune Gallery

Derain 1905: –dealer Ambroise Vollard, to whom he had been introduced by Matisse, bought the entire contents of his studio (he did the same with Vlaminck) –exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants (sold four paintings) –then exhibited at the Salon d'Automne w/ Matisse, Vlaminck and others –following success at the Salon d'Automne, Vollard commissioned views of London; returned in : –spent summer painting at L'Estaque (S. FR) –met Picasso; and next year signed a contract w/ Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler, Picasso's dealer –married on strength of his new financial security –went to live in Montmartre, with his wife, Alice

Derain’s Charing Cross Bridge (1906)

(Left) Derain’s Fauvist Charing Cross Bridge, London ( ) vs. (right) photographic postcard of River Thame s

(Left) Derain’s Charing Cross Bridge, London (1906) vs. (right) Monet’s Parliament, Effect of Fog (1904)

IMAGE INDEX Slide 3:DERAIN, Andre. Portrait of Matisse (1906), Oil on canvas, 21 5/8 x 18 1/8 in. Slide 5:MATISSE. Green Stripe (Madame Matisse), 1905, Oil and tempera on canvas, 15 7/8 x 12 7/8 in., Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. Slide 6:(Left) Matisse’s Fauvist Green Stripe (1905); vs. (right) Bank of America advertisement “See How You’ll Look When You Retire” (2014) Slide 7:MATISSE. Woman with a Hat (1905), Oil on canvas, 32 1/4 x 23 3/4 in., Collection of Mrs. Walter A. Haas, San Francisco. Slide 8:(Left) MATISSE’s Woman with a Hat (1905); and (right) MATISSE’s The Red Madras Headress (Summer 1907), Oil on canvas, 39 1/8 x 31 3/4 in., Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA. Slide 9:MATISSE, Henri. The Joy of Life (1905), Oil on canvas, 69 1/8 x 94 7/8 in., Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA. Slide 10:(Left) MATISSE’s Fauvist The Joy of Life (1905); and (right) TITIAN’s Venetian Renaissance Bacchannal of the Andrians (c. 1520). Slide 11:MATISSE. Harmony in Red (Spring 1908), Oil on canvas, 70 7/8 x 86 5/8 in., Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia.

IMAGE INDEX Slide 12:MATISSE, Henri. The Dance (early 1909), Oil on canvas, 8‘ 6 1/2" x 12'9 1/2“ in., Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Slide 13:MATISSE. The Red Studio (1911), Oil on canvas, 71 1/4 x 86 ¼ in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Slide 15:VLAMINCK, Maurice de. Portrait of Andre Derain at Collioure, (1905), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Slide 16:DERAIN, Andre. Charing Cross Bridge (1906), oil on canvas, 31 5/8 x 39 1/2 in., John Hay Whitney Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Slide 17:(Left) Derain’s Fauvist Charing Cross Bridge, London ( ) vs. (right) photographic postcard of River Thames. Slide 18:Comparison between (left) DERAIN’s Fauvist Charing Cross Bridge, London (1906); and MONET’S Impressionist Parliament, Effect of Fog (1904), Oil on canvas, 32 1/2 x 36 1/2 in., Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL.

IMAGE INDEX Slide 21:DERAIN, Andre. The Turning Road, L'Estaque (1906), Oil on canvas, 4’2 1/2 x 6’ 4 1/2 in., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Slide 22:Comparison between (left) DERAIN’s Fauvist The Turning Road, L'Estaque (1906); and (right) MONET’s Impressionist The Red Road near Menton (1884), Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 32 in., Private collection.