The Fauves: An Orgy of Colour

Fauvism is a word derived from the French meaning “Wild Beasts”.  

Louis Vauxcelles, a critic, at the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1906, off-handedly called a small group of exhilarating painters “les fauves”. Now, after time, it defines one of the most important artistic movements of the 20th century.

Fauvism was a brief, spontaneous development generated in France in the new years of the 20thcentury – a coincidental appearance of a group of civilized painters who used brilliantly, clashing primary color; stylized, fragmented images, rich surface texture that shocked the critics and the public. The fauves were seduced by the exotic arts of African motifs, Polynesian wood carvings and the ancient cultures of Central and South America; by 1908 the flames died down, each member branched off in a different direction.

This slideshow with lecture will focus on the works of several noted fauves: Henri Matisse, Mautice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, Andre Derain, Albert Marquet