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 The
word Fauvism comes from the French word 'fauve' which means 'wild
animals’ and indeed this new modern art style was thought a bit wild
with its strong vivid colors. The name, Les Fauves was actually
first used as a derogatory remark about their work by French art critic
Louis Vauxcelles. It referred to Matisse and the others’ choice of
colors, indicating that their work was savage and primitive. Fauvism was a brief art movement made up of several young Parisian painters at
the beginning of the 20th century. Primarily a transitional movement, Fauvism came about as the art world shifted
from the Post-Impressionism of
Vincent
Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, and
Paul
Gauguin to the
Cubism of Georges Braque and
Pablo Picasso. Fauvism can be classified as an extreme development
of Van Gogh's Post-Impressionism fused with the pointillism of Seurat
and other Neo-Impressionist painters, in particular
Paul
Signac. The Fauvists' painters
never formed a movement in the strict sense of the word, but for years
they would nurse a shared ambition, before each went his separate and
more personal way.At the end of the nineteenth century, neo Impressionist painters were already using pure colors, but they applied those colors to their canvases in small strokes. The fauves rejected the impressionist palette of soft, shimmering tones in favor of radical new style, full of violent color and bold distortions. The Fauve painters were in favor of applying bold untouched colors to their canvases in broad rough strokes that on many occasions would distort their subject. The principles of Fauvism permitted the artists the freedom to think outside of the traditional academic structure, and by allowing the artists the luxury of free thinking they were able to create paintings of interpretations instead of an imitation of the actual subject matter.  Henri Matisse was the founding father of Fauvism. Other artists of the movement
included Andre Derain, Raoul Dufy, Maurice de Vlaminck (his painting "The
Circus" is shown above), and Georges Rouault. The
fauves did not attempt to express political statements, ethical opinions, or
philosophical or psychological ideas in their paintings. Instead they painted
subjects that invoked feelings of pleasure, joy and comfort. The fauves favored
intense color and vigorous brush strokes and would never consider painting
objects in their natural colors. The most famous painting from the Fauvism
movement, is probably Matisse’s Green Stripe (shown here).
In this portrait of his wife, Matisse used solid colors throughout, and depended
entirely upon the intensity of his colors to create depth and shape. Thick black lines and rough brush strokes completed the image. Although it isn’t necessarily a flattering portrait, Matisse did exactly what he
intended to, creating a stylistic and primitive painting that deliberately
celebrated the use of color. Even though Matisse and many of his followers had
been toying with Fauvism since early 1896 it did not become an
officially accepted art movement until the Autumn Salon Exhibition in
1905 where fauvists gathered to exhibit their newest works.For the Fauves, it really was all about the color! |
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