Fauvism

Fauvism began in 1905. It was a short-lived movement and included a group of artists who used deep, more intense color than the work of the Impressionists. With simplified lines the subjects were easy to decipher. Objects were painted in any colour and the perspectives exaggerated.

'Fauves' means wild beasts in French. The finished look of the work was immaterial as the artists just painted what they visualized.

Leading the movement were Henri Matisse and Andre Derain. See Matisse's 1908 The Dessert; and/or Derain's The Two Barges.

Fauvism, had no concrete theories. Matisses aim was to use art as decoration. Seeing a work by Matisse one senses the feeling of dcor, especially if harmonizes with the surroundings.

Rough and clumsy, intense, vivid, unnatural colour, distortion, was the emotional, driving force.

The movement was not popular and was subject to abuse. However, it gained some respect when art buyers began to show interest.

Muc h of the work was derived from primitive and tribal art. Unlike Impressionism, it presented hyper emotionalism, shocking, violent colours, lines, shapes, distorted forms, with no glimmer of seeing any representation of the real world.

Fauvism ceased after 1908, when the artists went their separate ways.

[Not for publication: Henri Matisse and Andre Derain were two French artists,'Fauves' and these names are spelt as above. Their is no other way to spell them.

Margaret Houghton graduated in Fine Art from the Western Australian Institute of Technology in 1982, majoring in painting. She prefers acrylics to oil paints. Recently, she turned her attention to screenwriting which is a very long stride.

Author:: Margaret Houghton
Keywords:: Intense1,Simplified2,Exaggerated3,Decoration4,Rough5,Clumsy6, Distorted7,Vivid8,Emotional9,Hyper10,
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