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Roger Macdivitt .

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A love of colour and form. A Derain, Artist
8/11/2013 9:16:07 AM
André Derain, artist, 1880 - 1954

André Derain was born in Châtou, a suburb of Paris, France. Early on, Derain had decided to become an engineer before suddenly changing his goal to that of studying art at the Academie Julian. He shared his studio with his friend Vlamink, painted with Matisse at Collioure near Marseilles and often visited the crumbling studios on the Rue Ravignan (Bateau Lavoir) where Braque and Picasso worked.

Derain was one of the original Fauve artistswho were principally concerned with line and colour.

In 1908 Derain turned his studies to form, structure and cubism, Impressionism and the styles of Van Goch and Gauguin and Cezanne too in an effort to find a style which he enjoyed.

He had studied the Renaissance masters, had performed wood engraving for books and later painted sets and costumes for ballet. He yearned to be different and, although the work of other artists can be seen in his style he made whatever he did personal and poweful.

In the 1950’s he developed an eye problenm which caused mental problems for him. Despite treatment he ailed and eventually died fron shock after being hit by a car in Paris.

His art was little shown in his later years as he continued to change and experiment, however, it was his Fauvist works and his later portraits that guaranteed his place in modern painting history.

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Roger Macdivitt .

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RE: A love of colour and form. A Derain, Artist
8/11/2013 9:21:01 AM
les Fauves
With his suicide in July of 1890, Vincent Van Gogh cut short an explosive outburst of creative production that came little short of being artistically earth-shattering. Except for his brother, Theo, and perhaps Paul Gauguin, few knew at the time what a mad genius had passed on. It was some fifteen years before his work began to have an impact upon the work of others. In 1905, Maurice de Vlaminck, Andre Derain, and Henri Matisse were exposed to a retrospective of Van Gogh's work that had a profound impact upon them. That summer, they combined the dynamic brushwork of Van Gogh with their own love of pure, right-from-the-tube primary colors to produce, as Derain put it, "explosive sticks of dynamite". Their color influence came straight from Eugene Delacroix rather than Van Gogh, who was mostly a devotee of Impressionist color theory. With less concern about the appearance of the subjects they painted and primary emphasis on rhythmic brushstrokes and powerful color. They carried on Van Gogh as if he'd never traded his brushes for a revolver.

Matisse was the oldest. He was born in 1869. Vlaminck (pronounced Vla-MANK) was born in 1876, while Derain, (pronounced Der-RAN) was the youngest, born in 1880. These three, painting together, evolving together, exhibiting together, were labeled by the French critic, Louis Vauxcelles, as "le Fauves" or Wild Beasts". The reference, of course, was primarily to their colors, and the label, like that of so many art movements, was intended to be derisive. But it was apt. By temperament, in appearance, and in artistic philosophy, these men all had a wild, "beastly" streak. Add to the list the work of Paul Gauguin, who was, of course, by this time quite dead, and you have a group ready to clobber the artistic sensitivities of every connoisseur and critic on the continent.




Mountains of Collioure, 1906, Andre Derain
Derain's (1905) Mountains of Collioure is typical. At first glance it appears not unlike a tempera painting done by a fairly talented 12-year-old. Its vivid blues, greens, and oranges on a manila-colored ground seem only incidentally to depict a French Riviera llandscape
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Roger Macdivitt .

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RE: A love of colour and form. A Derain, Artist
8/11/2013 9:32:53 AM

Here is a larger image.

Many influences are clear here. Can you see the Van Goch influence here?

Derain is amongst my favourite arists. I LOVE colour.

God gave us decerning eyes and a soul. We can appreciate the gentle and relaxing quailties of a Constable or the strength and power of a Da Vinci, the light quailty in a Turner or the spirituality in early european artists, but, for me:

To see a work by Derain lifts my spirits and makes me look at colour in a different and exciting way.

I hope here to share my passion for this great artist.

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Roger Macdivitt .

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RE: A love of colour and form. A Derain, Artist
8/11/2013 9:33:59 AM

File:Self-portrait in studio by André Derain.jpg

Self-Portrain in Studio 1903

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