Fauvism Art History

Overview

Fauvism- a time period in which it was referred to as a time where there were plenty of new possibilities for colour in art. This art era happened in the early 20th century and was out of the ordinary. Created by some French men, inspired by famous names like Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin,etc., grew to be a very popular. The group of men who were well known for using this type of art style were called the "fauves" -meaning wild beasts. They were called wild beasts due to the way they used the pallet of colours wildly. Being part of this art group was almost seen as liberation. The man who led this group was named Henri Matisse. He and a bunch of other people formed a group surrounding this unique art form and brought it recognition to this world. Colour is used at a maximum intensity and the artists usually painted with the colours that they believed should be there. When first looking at this style of artwork you tend to think is doesn't follow any guidelines but if you continue to study it, you realize it uses a lot of visual elements. The main features this art had were distinctive brush lines, vivid colour, and the expression of feelings through artists in their paintings.

L'Atelier Rouge (The Red Studio)by Henri Matisse (1911)

This first piece is one of Henri's most famous pieces he's ever created. My understanding of this piece is that the artist painted his studio in the colours he saw it in. With the main colour of red, it colour possibly be showing the motion he felt while painting it. red. anger? love? happiness? Was he particularly angry that day with his studio/art? or maybe he could've been totally happy. This painting was done with oil paint on canvas as that was a typical way for paintings to be at this time. If you study the picture closer to the painted artworks you can see possibly inspirations to why he would want to paint this scene. The first thing you notice would have to be the most important though. As said before, red has a huge impact on this piece. Where a painter might’ve used black the artist for some reason used red and made it work. Without the black the painting has a very different visual effect. Using the same tone throughout, he was still able to include depth which I find very amazing. At the time of this painting there was lots of international stress going on, with the war to come in three years.

At the Circus (The Mad Clown) by Georges Rouault (1907)

So right away looking at this painting you notice the dark colour choice. I would assume this under a hidden meaning he painting has with the two characters in it.  So the name of the artwork “At the Circus (The Mad Clown)” you can pick out the clown character but it is still unknown who the girl is – viewer or performer? Another question that comes to mind is why the clown is mad and what his back story is. The painting is done with oil paints on a piece of cardboard. Cardboard is a very interesting choice of canvas and it makes you wonder why it was chosen to do the art on. The painter was a student of Moreau (a very popular artist) and a friend of Matisse. Two very well-known artists who helped inspire Rouault to create this painting. The artist was seen as someone in this era to do more quiet and physiological paintings – paintings with a background. Using some of the main elements like intense brush strokes and application techniques, he had a preference to darker colours which echoed ‘human suffering’. As I have learned, the artist has done multiple paintings of clowns and acrobats off stage, which is very important to know as a viewer needs to know who the characters are in a painting. Using psychological inspiration he was always able to display the characters in full circus makeup but also reveal the deep sadness within. 

Yacht at Le Havre Decorated with Flags by Raoul Dufy (1905)

When first glancing at this painting you notice what exactly is in the picture but that there are no outlines to it. This was a feature of the fauvism era and I find it to be pretty interesting on how an artist can have a lack of detail and still are able to form a picture which has lots of detail. So you can see that in the picture it is a beautiful windy day at the marina/lake side and that there are many coloured flags attached to the yacht. The artist Dufy, was very much like popular artists Claude Monet and Eugene Boudin, painting scenes of one certain place that was his favourite. With the many different types of strokes the artist used he is able to convey different textures and effects throughout his work. The artist’s expression through this painting might’ve been happy as it was a favourite place. Events at this time were when cars were being factored into cities and horses were becoming less common. This painting was done on canvas with oil paint.