and the Fauves - Wienand Verlag

Contents
MATISSE
and the Fauves
Edited by
Heinz Widauer and Claudine Grammont
With contributions by
Cécile Debray, Jack Flam, Claudine Grammont
Anita Hopmans, John Klein, Rémi Labrusse
Fabienne Queyroux & Nathalie Muller and Heinz Widauer
Wienand
8
Klaus Albrecht Schröder
Foreword and Acknowledgements
10
Heinz Widauer, Claudine Grammont
Acknowledgements
14
Heinz Widauer
Henri Matisse and the Fauves: An Introduction
Catalogue
28
‘Matisse Paints like a Crazy Impressionist’
36
The Students of Gustave Moreau
48
From Neo-Impressionism to Fauvism
58
Collioure: Henri Matisse and André Derain
82
The Chatou Group
98
The London Paintings by André Derain
110
The Le Havre Group
140
Into the Myth: From Classicism to Primitivism
‘What I Am After, above all, Is Expression’
176
206
Kees van Dongen
224
Georges Rouault
234
Essays
250
Rémi Labrusse
‘Fauvism’. A Word and a Thing
268
Jack Flam
Explosiveness, Primitivism, Fragmentation,
and the New Unity of Modern Painting
284
John Klein
The Inner Circles of Fauve Portraiture
294
Cécile Debray
Vlaminck: the Primitive of His Art
302
Anita Hopmans
Fluctuating Fortunes: Kees van Dongen,
a Dutch Fauve in the French Arena
314
Fabienne Queyroux & Nathalie Muller
Fauve Prints in the Cabinet d’estampes modernes
Claudine Grammont
Fauvism in the Debate around Classicism
318
List of Exhibited Works
325
Selected Literature
2 Henri Matisse Still Life with Pottery and Fruit 1901
32
3 Henri Matisse Street in Arcueil 1903/4
33
From Neo-Impressionism to Fauvism
taken by it and bought the painting for his dining room at La
Hune, regardless of the doubts Matisse was meanwhile voicing: that the fragmented colour would destroy the drawing
Watercolours, chalk sketches, and charcoal drawings lay
The meticulous preparation of the composition with prelimi-
and the forms, which, after all, received all their eloquence
scattered around Henri Matisse’s studio in Paris while he was
nary drawings and the fragmented brushwork would have
from the contours, and that where the colours collided, the
painting The Gulf of Saint-Tropez (cat. 13) in the autumn
been entirely to Signac’s liking, Matisse might have thought
surface of the picture would be disturbed by flickering. Ma-
of 1904. A few weeks earlier he had been strolling along the
when placing the finishing yellow touches onto the pale blue
tisse went in search of remedies.
town’s shore with his wife, Amélie, and young son Pierre.
surface of the sea in The Gulf of Saint-Tropez. Here the sun-
The subsequent summer, he and his family again travelled
On this occasion, he had sketched them as well as the sur-
light dimly reflects on the water. Matisse has applied short
south: this time not to the mecca of neo-Impressionism, but
roundings using Conté crayons and watercolour. Matisse
strokes next to and partly on top of each other, bathing the
to Collioure, a remote fishing village in the eastern foothills
and his family had spent the whole summer with Paul Sig-
path along the rocky coast in vermilion. The day’s last rays
of the Pyrenees. They arrived in May, and in the weeks to
nac in Saint-Tropez, who had invited Matisse to his mansion,
of the sun are about to dissipate, with the reddish glow of
come, Matisse familiarised himself with the surroundings and
La Hune. Signac had settled in southern France upon the
the approaching dusk gaining ground; the mountains and
recommendation of Henri Edmond Cross, one of the most
their vegetation in the far distance are rendered in blues and
duced drawings and watercolours, but hardly any paintings,
prominent exponents of neo-Impressionism, who lived in
greens. Matisse has used pure colours only to depict the sun-
except for two oil sketches. One of them, a view of the port
the nearby commune of Le Lavandou.
set’s effect on the coastal strip.
of Abaill (or Avall as it is called in this Catalonian part of
Paul Signac’s villa ‘La Hune’, Saint-Tropez
their motifs, the light conditions, and the colours. He pro-
In 1898, Signac had published a manifesto entitled D’Eugène
This painting can be seen as a response to a controver-
France), he painted from the window of his studio, relying
Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme in the periodical La Revue
sy Matisse had had with Signac in the summer: Matisse had
on the palette of the Divisionists (cat. 15). What at first sight
blanche, dedicating it to Georges Seurat, his friend and the ‘in-
shown him a painting – The Terrace, Saint-Tropez – he had
appears to be a systematic arrangement of colour samples or
ventor’ of neo-Impressionism, who had died prematurely. The
painted at La Hune. Signac, probably disappointed that it was
paint squeezed directly from the tube are annotations of pure
programmatic text defined the fundamental principles of neo-
not a picture in the neo-Impressionist style, had criticised it:
colour that, when looked at more closely, turn out to be a port
Impressionism, which Seurat had also referred to as Divisionism.
the brushstrokes were too long, the dabs of colour too large.
scene, with a jetty animated by figures and the masts of sailing
It advised artists to paint with pure colours, placing them side
Matisse was crestfallen; an anecdote has it that Amélie went
boats. This coloured sketch was meant to be the prelude to a
by side in the form of dots or short strokes so that they would
for a walk with him along the shore so that he would calm
further painting in the neo-Impressionist style, a panoramic
blend in the viewer’s eye. According to the manifesto, which
down. The studies and sketches Matisse had made on this
view of the port of Abaill, which Matisse intended to present
did not exclude Paul Cézanne, neo-Impressionism marked, at
occasion of his family and the surroundings, including the
at the Salon d’Automne in Paris in October 1905.3
least for the time being, the pinnacle within the canon of colour-
trunk of a tall Scots pine, were now worked up in the canvas
ism in painting, which began with Delacroix and ended with
on the easel in front of him. For the purpose of orientation
Signac. This concept enticed many artists to travel to southern
and colour distribution, Matisse first drew the outlines and
possible to prevent the irritating ‘vibrato’, as he called the
France in order to gain first-hand experience with Signac.
principal composition lines in charcoal: the bare, tall trunk
flickering. These concerns guided Matisse in his work. Nev-
Matisse, too, was enthusiastic about the neo-Impres-
on the right and the coastal strip, extending from the Scots
ertheless, a spontaneous and lively manner of painting was
sionist approach at first and delighted at the opportunity to
pine into the background where it meets a distant mountain
still thwarted by the careful preparations, which involved
peer over the shoulder of the doyen of neo-Impressionism.
range on the horizon, divide up the picture plane.
rendering a preliminary drawing and cartoon, as well as the
1
2
Matisse discovered that by placing the dots of colour furThe coastal road between Estérel and Agay
ther apart and allowing the canvas to shine through, it was
The previous year, Louis Valtat, a former student of Gus-
The Gulf of Saint-Tropez is a key work: the figure of
process of tracing. Work on the painting progressed but
tave Moreau’s from Paris, had spent the summer in southern
Amélie, the towering Scots pine, and the view across the bay
slowly, and Matisse failed to complete it in time for the Salon
France. It seems likely that Matisse knew Valtat’s painting The
recur in Matisse’s painting Luxe, calme et volupté (Luxury,
d’Automne. Moreover, in the meantime he had begun to fol-
Red Rocks at Agay (cat. 14), a motif the artist had captured
Calm and Pleasure; fig. p. 237). Matisse exhibited the latter
low a different path.
in the surroundings of Saint-Raphaël and one that had been
composition, with which he painted himself into the Olym-
By autumn 1905, the artist had arrived at a crossroads,
popular since Impressionism because of its red colouring. The
pus of the neo-Impressionists, at the Salon des Indépendants
with immediacy, spontaneity, and surprise gaining the upper
layout of the scene that Matisse was about to commit to can-
in spring 1905. It is consistently and deliberately constructed;
hand over Divisionism. At the Salon d’Automne, Matisse
vas in the autumn of 1904 is comparable to the one painted by
the contours of the figures are broken up into tiny coloured
exhibited pictures in which he had employed the brush not
Valtat of the two women in dark clothes resting in the rocky
strokes, and even the faintly outlined mountains in the back-
only as a means of painting, but also as a means of draw-
red landscape in the lower left corner.
ground are split up into small fragments. Signac was greatly
48
View of Collioure
ing: in the painting La Japonaise: Woman beside the Water
49
54 André Derain The Pool of London 1906/7
104
105
74 Georges Braque Seascape, L’Estaque 1906
130
75 Henri Manguin Le Vallon, La Villa Demière 1905
131
101 André Derain Standing Female Nude, Arms Held Close to Her Body ca. 1906
162
102 André Derain Nudes (Eight Dancing and Crouching Figures) 1906
163
112 Henri Matisse The Idol 1906
174
113 Henri Matisse Two `Negresses´ 1907/8
175
123 Henri Matisse Seated Nude ca. 1906
188
124 Henri Matisse Reclining Female Nude 1906
189
152 Kees van Dongen The Gypsy (The Curious Girl) ca. 1910/11
222
153 Kees van Dongen Parisian Woman in Montmartre ca. 1910
223
Georges Rouault
content. Rouault observed the condemned and humbled and
those deprived by fate in their living environment; relentlessly he captured the misery at the fringes of society – the life
Spaced out and bored, the owner of a shooting gallery has
behind the counter, fearing the ball that might come flying
of crooks, jugglers, and harlots. He critically witnessed court
installed herself behind the counter (cat. 158), dismissively
at him.
trials and the self-complacent, unsympathetic way in which
eyeing the funfair visitors that pass by. Now and then she
When Rouault painted the picture, he could not have
the judges and prosecutors treated the defendants. He, for
also seems to squint over at a row of cardboard figures set up
known that he had chosen a metaphor that would become a
his part, avoided any accusation, but instead portrayed the
behind her. They represent typical examples of the Parisian
reality for him: people were shocked when he exhibited the
prevailing order and distribution of power. In the oil paint-
petite bourgeoisie and are dressed according to the everyday
work at the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1905. It was out of
ing The Accused (cat. 159) of 1907, the faces of the judges and
fashion of the period. Day after day they must literally stick
the question to accept as art a sketchy depiction of human
the defendant are also interchangeable; only the latter’s plain
out their necks in order to secure the businesswoman’s living.
sordidness rendered with mixed media in dark colours on pa-
black clothes and white collar distinguish him from those
Hence conspicuous headgear is part of their ‘working outfit’:
per. Although no balls were thrown at Rouault and his paint-
practicing the law.
a top hat or bowler for the men, a turban or hat decorated
ing, more modern methods were available to deride the artist
In 1903, Rouault was appointed director of Moreau’s re-
with pieces of fruit, plumes, or flowers for the women. At the
and his work: on 4 November 1905, Camille Mauclair, editor-
cently founded museum in his former studio in rue de la Ro-
picture’s lower margin appears a box containing balls. It can
in-chief of the conservative weekly magazine L’Illustration,
chefoucauld. That year, he also began to devote himself to
be assumed that if you hit the head or hat of a cardboard fig-
exposed the composition, together with eleven other paint-
the theme of the circus and funfair. The travelling circus was
ure with a ball, it would tilt back, kicking up its legs. Hence
ings, to the ridicule of his readership (fig. p. 19).
a coveted childhood memory from the artist’s days in Bel-
the shooting gallery was cleverly advertising the name of one
Georges Rouault was a trained glass painter. In 1892 he
leville, a quarter of Paris. Rouault deemed clowns and acro-
of the queens of cancan dancing. The real Nini Patte-en-l’air,
joined the class of Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-
bats simulating a merry and colourful existence to be an ide-
however, only displayed her feminine charms to a wealthy
Arts in Paris, where Henri Matisse, Henri Manguin, and Al-
ally suitable motif to express his scepticism towards the world:
audience in one of the numerous Parisian cabarets. By con-
bert Marquet were among his fellow students. Rouault was
he offers the beholder a glimpse of the sphere behind the
trast, the cardboard figures were meant to amuse the ordinary
Moreau’s favourite pupil; like-minded intellectually and ar-
scenes, where there is no room for glamour, magic, illusion,
people. Here it was not the audience losing their heads at the
tistically, they were united by a bond of friendship. Moreau’s
or suggestion. The watercolour Head of a Clown (cat. 154)
sight of a dancer’s beautiful legs, but the cardboard figures,
death in 1898 precipitated Rouault into a serious depression.
is a self-portrait: Rouault has depicted himself as someone
thanks to the well-aimed throws of the ‘petit boulevard’.
When Fernand Cormon succeeded Moreau as a teacher,
who exposes his personality by displaying his profound inad-
2
equacy to an audience and expects nothing but mockery and
Georges Rouault communicated in the form of parables.
Rouault, like the future Fauves Matisse, Manguin, and Mar-
He observed the human soul, its abysses, and also its forlorn-
quet, left the École des Beaux-Arts. Whereas Matisse and the
ness and loneliness. Rouault took to the brush not to accuse
others changed over to Eugène Carrière, Rouault retired to
In autumn 1903, Rouault was one of the co-founders of
but to express empathy. Today, the message of his picture Jeu
the Benedictine monastery Saint-Martin de Ligugé, where
the Salon d’Automne. In 1905 he was involuntarily involved
de massacre (La Noce à Nini Patte-en-l’air) is more topi-
he joined the movement of the writer Joris-Karl Huysmans.
in the art scandal arising in room VII: although his works
cal than ever: the shooting gallery is a metaphor for life; its
At the time, Huysmans was surrounding himself with artists
were not exhibited immediately next to those by Matisse and
puppets are ordinary people, marionettes in the hands of a
and monks, intending to establish an art school with their
the others, his former affiliation with ‘Moreau’s gang’ suf-
profiteer who earns money by doing practically nothing. The
assistance – the Maison Notre-Dame. Yet in 1902/03 the
ficed to associate him with the Fauves. As a Fauve, Rouault
business idea pursued here is the exploitation of human ag-
French National Assembly decreed the dissolution of exist-
held a marginal position: his paintings had not been installed
gression, and the tactics employed are to set people against
ing religious orders and the closure of educational institu-
in room VII, but together with works by Paul Cézanne and
one another. Yet the woman running the shooting gallery
tions run by the church, so that nothing came of his dream
the Nabis in room XVI. In the review published by Louis
might just as well appear on the other side; given her facial
of an artists’ colony. Rouault returned to Paris. The monastic
Vauxcelles in the periodical Gil Blas, he was therefore not
features and headdress, she could easily be exchanged for a
seclusion had encouraged him not to make any concessions,
mentioned in the same breath as the other ‘wild beasts’. Yet
figure in the background. In any case, the scene evokes the
neither to tradition nor to the spirit of the time. All he wished
Rouault shared with his former colleagues a loose, occasion-
mean, sadistic pleasure some individuals take in the ostracism
to do was to pursue his own convictions, which were mostly
ally gestural, and swift manner of painting. His almost re-
and public humiliation of an alleged offender put in the pillo-
religious. With this in mind, he ventured into a renewal of
bellious approach to the pictorial tradition and his complete
ry. The puppets’ faces are distorted to the point of caricature.
religious history painting. Not parables from the Bible, but
The beholder, as if in a mirror, sees himself not in front, but
perceptions taken from real life were to convey religious
1
224
Georges Rouault, 1903
scorn in return if he wishes to do justice to his role.
Georges Rouault (2nd from left) and Joris-Karl Huysmans (right)
in the monastery of Saint-Martin de Ligugé, 1901
rejection of academic norms and conventions additionally
contributed to his being regarded as one of their kind.
225