2
English translation by Susan Schneider * An asterisk indicates that the work mentionned is displayed in the room Neo-Impressionism In the late nineteenth century, the Impressionists paved the way for modernity in colour, being less concerned with the subject as with rendering variations in light and atmosphere. This is apparent in Maxime Mauffra’s (1861-1918) 1902 work Evening at Morgat*, in the spirit of Sisley (1839-1899) or Pissarro (1830-1903), yet a late starter when compared with Claude Monet’s (1840-1926) impetus from 1872. The spontaneity found in the inspiration of the Impressionists gave way to the desire of the Neo-Impressionists to give structure to the application of colour. Georges Seurat (1859- 1891) devised a form of painting using small dots of pure colour (fig.1) inspired by the chemist Eugène Chevreul’s laws of “simultaneous contrast” (1826). Many artists adopted Seurat’s technique adding their own personal touch – among them Achille Laugé (1861-1944) whose career was mainly based in his native region, a few kilometres from Carcassonne. His Road at “Hort” (1896-98) testifies to his precocious advocacy of divisionism, which he would never relinquish. Henri Martin (1860-1944) of Toulouse studied painting in Paris with Laugé in the class of Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921). He quickly made a name for himself and received many official commissions. Retaining only the fragmentary brushwork from Seurat’s divisionism without applying Chevreul’s principles, he used similar tones, as in the Old House* in 1904. Also a pupil of Laurens, Georges Ribemont-Dessaigne (1884-1974) quickly turned away from Impressionism, and from divisionism and the influence of the Nabis. He achieved a highly personal synthesis of these different influences, as is apparent in his Lakeside Landscape*. One of the founders of the Dada movement after World War I, he abandoned a career in painting to become a writer of repute. Fauvism The issue of a new approach to colour gave rise to another important movement in the early twentieth century – Fauvism. Several of its exponents are to be found in this room, including Othon Friesz (1879-1949) and Raoul Dufy (1877-1953). The Portrait of Fernande Olivier* by Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968) embodies this new aesthetic, with its colours applied through vivid and sensual free brushwork, in which pink becomes red and blue turns black. He presented two paintings at the famous Autumn Salon of 1905, during which the critic Louis Vauxcelles coined the term “Fauves” (literally “wild beasts”) to describe a group of artists who explored the power of saturated colours to the height of contrast. The following year, Van Dongen rented a studio at the Bateau Lavoir (in Montmartre, Paris) and met Picasso, with whom he would become friends. Picasso’s girlfriend Fernande Olivier often modelled for him : the Spanish Woman (1906) and the following year the portrait in this room, similar to the Portrait of Madame Matisse (The Green Line) (1905, Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, fig.2). While his Fauvist friends soon looked to pastures new following in the footsteps of Cézanne, Van Dongen was to persist in his experimentations with the triumph of colour until the eve of World War I. Modern Artists ... The modernity from 1850 to 1914 ... 42 ... Colour and the Avant-garde fig.1- Seurat The Bridge of Courbevoie London, Courtauld Institute Galleries All rights reserved
