Matisse and the
Fauves
(Wild Beasts)
Henri Matisse
• The end of the 19th century saw the decline of
the influence of the Academy and the Salon
exhibitions. The 20th century gave birth to a
series of new art movements in Europe.
• The first of these was led by Matisse, in Paris.
This group exhibited together in 1905, showing
works so brightly colored, so simple in design,
and so loose in brushwork that one critic labelled
the artists Fauves, or Wild Beasts.
• They built on the work of the Post
Impressionists; they were even more daring in
their colour than Van Gogh, and bolder than
Gauguin in their use of flat shapes and lively line
patterns.
• Matisse discovered art as a child when he was
given paints to pass the time after an attack of
appendicitis. He said, “I felt transported into a
paradise in which I felt gloriously free.”
Derain’s Portrait of Matisse
• Matisse was not interested in recreating
the shapes or colours found in nature. He
was mainly interested in organizing the
design qualities of an image, using shape
and colour and texture to create images
that were simply pleasing to the eye.
Matisse – The Red Room
• In The Red Room, we see a flat,
decorative quality rather than any attempt
to create the illusion of three
dimensionality or realism.
•
•
•
Madame Matisse
in a Red Scarf
•
•
•
•
•
Here again we see
Matisse simplifying
and flattening
shapes, and using
decorative pattern.
Matisse – Odalisque Wearing Red
Trousers
• Matisse travelled to northern Africa, and
spent time in Morocco.
• The Muslim prohibition against the
portrayal of humans or animals led, over
many centuries, to the development of
intricate decorative patterns in Muslim art.
• The influence of North African Muslim
culture, with its love of pattern, is evident
in Matisse’s odalisque paintings.
Odalisque in Red Trousers
• Matisse
• The Purple Robe
• Matisse
• Goldfish
• Matisse – Icarus
• In the last years of his
life, Matisse spent
most of his time
creating paper cut
outs, endlessly
rearranging them,
seeking the perfection
of composition that
would give viewers
pure pleasure.
•
His economy is like that of a Haiku poet
The Knife Thrower. 1947
This is a famous cut out by Matisse. He
uses minimal information to vividly portray
the energy of a knife thrower and the
impassivity of his female assistant. What
effect is created by the fact that the female
figure touches the top and bottom of the
format?
.
Andre Derain
1880 - 1954
• Derain was born in 1880 just outside
Paris. In 1898, while studying to be an
engineer at the Académie Camillo, he
attended painting classes under Eugene
Carriere and there met Matisse. Matisse
persuaded Derain's parents to allow him to
abandon his engineering career and
devote himself solely to painting.
• Derain and Matisse worked together
through the summer of 1905 in the
Mediterranean village of Collioure and
later that year displayed their highly
innovative paintings at the Salon
d’Automne. The vivid, unnatural colors led
the critic Louis Vauxcelles to derisively dub
their works as Les Fauves or "the wild
beasts", marking the start of the Fauve
movement.
• In March 1906, the noted art dealer Ambroise
Vollard sent Derain to London to compose a
series of paintings with the city as subject.
• In 30 paintings, Derain put forth a portrait of
London that was radically different from anything
done by previous painters of the city such as
Monet.
• With bold colors and compositions, Derain
painted multiple pictures of the Thames and
Tower Bridge. These London paintings remain
among his most popular work and sell for as
much as $6 million. (Wikipedia).
Andre Derain - Trees at L’Estaque
•
Andre Derain – Bridge at Riou
Derain- Street in London
Derain – London Bridge - 1906
Derain – Turning Road
Raoul Dufy
1877 - 1953
• Raoul Dufy was born in Le Havre, in
Normandy (northern coast of France).
• He studied art at Le Havre's École d'Art
(municipal art school).
• During this period, Dufy painted mostly
Norman landscapes in watercolors.
• In 1900, Dufy won a scholarship to the Ecole Nationale
Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris where he
concentrated on improving his drawing skills.
• The Impressionist landscape painters, such as Claude
Monet and Camille Pissarro, influenced Dufy profoundly.
His first exhibition took place in 1901.
• Introduced to Berthe Weill in 1902, Dufy showed his
work in her gallery in Paris. Then he exhibited again in
1903 at the Salon des Independents.
• Henri Matisse’s Luxe, Calme et Volupte, which Dufy saw
at the Salon des Indépendants in 1905, was a revelation
to the young artist, and it directed his interests towards
Fauvism.
Matisse – Luxe, calme, et volupte
(beauty, calm and pleasure)
• It was not until 1920, after he had flirted briefly with
cubism, that Dufy developed his own distinctive
approach. It involved skeletal structures, arranged with
foreshortened perspective, and the use of thin washes of
color applied quickly, in a manner that came to be known
as stenographic.
• Dufy's cheerful oils and watercolors depict events of the
time period, including yachting scenes, sparkling views
of the French Riviera, chic parties, and musical events.
His pictures typically have an optimistic, fashionably
decorative, and illustrative nature.
Raoul Dufy – The Bay of Angels
Raoul Dufy – Interior with Open
Window
Dufy – Nice Casino
Dufy – Dolce far Niente (Tribute to
Mozart)
Dufy – Red Violin