Art Quiz: The Answer is Fauvism

Yep. Fauvism. You knew this one, didn’t you! I knew it because I’d read about fauvism and had even written a blog post about it: Hunting the Wild Beasts. I did a second post a few days later when I played with fauvism — Fauve Fun — as part of a painting exercise.

The definition of this colorful art movement is this:

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves, a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1904 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years (1905-1908) and had three exhibitions.

Henri Matisse is perhaps the artist most-closely associated with fauvism. His “Woman with a Hat”, painted in 1906, is a good example of the fauvist style:

 

Other fauvist artists include Andre Derain, George Braque, Maurice de Vlaminck, Albert Marquet, and Georges Roualt. The Fauvists were initially inspired by the works of Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gaugin, George Seurat, and Paul Cezanne. These artists explored new possibilities with color and style, and Fauvism led to greater emphasis on personal expression in art.

The essential ideas behind fauvism were:

• A belief that color could be separate from any descriptive or representational purpose. Color could exist as an independent element in art. It could be used to create a mood or to establish a structure without having to be true to the natural world.
• Balance in composition became important. Forms were simplified and the highly-saturated colors drew attention to the flatness of the canvas. Artists sought to create strong, unified compositions.
• As mentioned, Fauvism placed a high value on individual expression. These artists were painting their personal, direct experience, their emotional responses, their intuitive thoughts and feelings. Academic theories and subjects were of little importance. What mattered most was the artists’ perception of the scenes they painted.

A short but informative article on the history of fauvism can be found here: Fauvism – Concepts and Styles.

Fauvism is not my favorite art style, yet it is fun to play around with colors. It’s good, too, for us to explore color as an element of composition, and of course, we can all grow as artists by considering the importance of personal expression. Without a doubt, fauvism was an important part of art history. Although short-lived, the fauvist movement opened the art world up for new ways of approaching painting.

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