Fauvism

Excited handling of pure colors and drastic simplification of line - such was Fauvism, the first art revolution of the 20th century. Neither a school nor a system, Fauvism, like all fruitful movements, was born of the chance encounter and common aspirations of a group of young, independent painters who reacted more or less alike to the climate of the times.

Fauvism, then, was in the nature of a collective paroxysm; it was the climax of a long preparatory phase but, as is the way with paroxysms, it could not sustain the tension for long. As its dynamism subsided, other forces came into play. But it lasted long enough to launch 20th-century art on its destined path toward subjectivism and total freedom.

The name Fauvism, like the names Impressionism and Cubism, was coined as a joke by an outsider; it evokes something of the virulence and "shock tactics" of the Fauve cult of pure color, but nothing of the aims, ideas and techniques behind the movement. No name or catchword, moreover, could possibly cover the diversity of its elements, nor is this true of Fauvism alone. It is a great fallacy, prevalent in our times, to predicate the general characteristics of a given art movement, and then to assess each member of it separately, according to the greater or lesser degree in which he typifies an abstract principle laid down at the outset. T

When Rouault as a young man showed Degas his paintings and apologized for the influences only too obviously reflected in them, Degas replied: "Everyone must have a mother and father." Without going back to the Middle Ages, it is possible to see inklings of Fauvism in certain aspects of the work of Delacroix, in Daumier's generous use of paint, and in the later landscapes of Courbet, in which the lyrical feeling imposes an increasingly vigorous colour and handling. But the two main sources of Fauvism are Gauguin and Van Gogh.

It should be made clear that Fauvism is merely a term of convenience. It was never an organic movement like Impressionism, Cubism or Surrealism. The Fauves were a mixed group with no recognized leader, no exponent of theory, and their ideas were often at variance. Matisse and Vlaminck, for example, differed on practically everything. The few principles that were evolved came later. Fauvism was essentially the untrammelled expression of the artist's personality.