Fauvism


 * Fauvism **

__ Background __ Fauvism comes from Les Fauves, french for the wild beasts, a group of modern artists from the 20th century. The style called fauvism began around 1900 in Paris, and was short-lived; the actual movement of fauvism only lasted between 1904 and 1908. It’s leaders were Henri Matisse, and André Derain. Fauves painters were the first to break with impressionism and other traditional methods. Instead, they had a spontaneous response to nature which they demonstrated by using bold, or wild, brushstrokes, and bright colors directly from the tube. This style of painting was first introduced by Henri Matisse and André Derain when they were working together near the Mediterranean coast during the summer of 1905. Then, their paintings from that summer were exposed at “Salon D’automne”, in Paris, and Louis Vauxcelles, a famous critic, decided to describe the paintings as fauves. Soon after this, the term was used to describe the artists themselves.

The Woman with the Hat - Matisse 1905

__ Characteristics __ Fauves paintings are characterized by strident non naturalistic colors and “wild brushstrokes”. The style was influenced by post impressionist and neo impressionist techniques from the works of Van Gogh, Seurat, and other well known artists from those movements. These works made Matisse realize that instead of using a traditional three dimensional space as all these previous successful artists had, he wanted to find a new space which would only be defined by the colors planes.

The Young Sailor- Matisse 1906

__ Influence __ Fauvism was a transitional stage for many artists. Most of them switched over to cubism or went back to previous methods such as the traditional methods used in neo-impressionism. None the less, fauvism had a huge influence on German Expressionism who took on the style of bright colors and put emotional reactions in their paintings instead of more realistic representations. __More Examples of Fauves works__ Mountains at Collioure- Andre Derain 1905 A Rainy Day in Paris- Albert Marquet 1910