Fauvism

fauvism (fō`vĭzəm) [Fr. fauve=wild beast], name derisively hurled at and cheerfully adopted by a group of French painters, including Matisse, Rouault, Derain, Vlaminck, Friesz, Marquet, van Dongen, Braque, and Dufy. Although fauvism was a short-lived movement (1905–8), its influence was international and basic to the evolution of 20th-century art. It was essentially an expressionist style, characterized by bold distortion of forms and exuberant color. Only Matisse continued to explore its possibilities after 1908. Most of the others contributed to the development of new styles, such as cubism, which immediately followed the fauvist movement.

Bibliography

See J. P. Crespelle, The Fauves (tr. 1962); J. É. Muller, Fauvism (1967); S. Whitfield, Fauvism (1990).

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Fauvism

Style of painting that flourished in France c. 1898–1908, characterized by the use of intensely vivid colour and turbulent emotionalism. The dominant figure of the group was Henri Matisse; others were André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Georges Braque, and Georges Rouault. The name derives from the judgment of a critic who visited their first exhibit in Paris (1905) and referred to the artists disparagingly as “les fauves” (“wild beasts”). They were influenced by the masters of Post-Impressionism, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Fauvism was a transitional phase for most of the artists, who by 1908, having renewed their interest in Paul Cézanne's vision of order and structure, abandoned Fauvism for Cubism. Matisse alone continued on the course he had pioneered.