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Fauvism
Les Fauves (French for The Wild Beasts) were a short-lived and
loose grouping of early Modern artists whose works emphasized
painterly qualities, and the use of deep color over the
representational values retained by Impressionism. Fauvists
simplified lines, made the subject of the painting easy to read,
exaggerated perspectives and used brilliant but arbitrary colors.
They also emphasized freshness and spontaneity over finish.
The name was given (humorously) to the group by art critic Louis
Vauxcelles. In French, "Fauves" means "wild beasts." The painter
Gustave Moreau was the movement's inspirational teacher, and a
professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris who pushed his
students to think outside of the lines of formality and to follow
their visions.
The leaders of the movement, Moreau's top students, were
Henri Matisse and
André Derain ? friendly rivals of a sort, each with his own
followers. The paintings, for example Matisse's 1908 The Dessert or
Derain's The Two Barges, use powerful reds or other forceful colors
to draw the eye. Matisse became the yang to Picasso's yin in the
20th century while time has trapped Derain at the century's
beginning, a "wild beast" forever. Their disciples included Albert
Marquet, Charles Camoin, the Belgian oil painting artist Henri
Evenepoel, Jean Puy, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Othon Friesz,
Georges Rouault, the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen, the Swiss
painter Alice Bailly and
Picasso's partner
in
Cubism,
Georges Braque.
Fauvism, as a movement, had no concrete theories, and was short
lived (they only had three exhibitions). Matisse was seen as a
leader of the movement. He said he wanted to create art to delight;
art as a decoration was his purpose; therefore his use of bright
colors tries to maintain serenity of composition.
Among the influences of the movement were
Paul Gauguin and
Vincent van
Gogh, both of whom had begun using colors in a brighter, more
imaginative manner.
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