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02/03/2005: "Salon D'Automne - Paris 1905 - 18th to 25th of November" by John Nolan
French art critic Louis Vauxcelles attended the 1905 Salon D'Autome, in Paris. During his visit he noticed a sculpture of a child's bust by artist Albert Marque. The sculpture was in a room surrounded by paintings with bold, vibrant colours. He immediately shouted, " C'est Donatello au millieu des fauves ", - " It's Donatello among the wild beasts ". This was the baptism of Fauvism ( 1904-1907 ). A group of artists, which heralded the inception of the Modern Movement, Modernism. This short lived but highly important group of young artists, The Fauves paved the way for new visual possibilities which are still being explored today, 100 years later.Henri Matisse ( 1869 - 1954 ), Andre Derain (1880 - 1954 ), Maurice Vlaminck ( 1876 - 1958 ), George Rouault ( 1871 - 1958 ), Albert Marquet ( 1875 - 1947 ), Charles Camoin ( 1879 - 1967 ), Jean Puy ( 1876 - 1960 ) and Kees Van Dongen ( 1877 - 1968 ), these were the main protagonists nicknamed Les Fauves. All of them had been influenced by the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh ( 1850 - 1890 ) , especially by his use of vibrant expressive colour, used in an emotional way. In 1901 The Goupil Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of Van Goghs work. The colossal impact of this show was instrumental in forming, for a few years, the most experimental group of painters working in Paris. Vlaminck said on seeing Van Gogh's Work " I was so moved that I wanted to cry with joy and despair, on that day I loved Van Gogh more than I loved my father ".
Their paintings were vehicles of expression, using pure colour, exaggeration of drawing and perspective. They revolutionised the concept of colour in Modern Art. Each of the artists later went on to develop their own individual painting styles, but for a brief period in Art History they shared the same visual ambitions, without which we would possibly never haved experienced Modernism.
The spectators are encouraged to become aware of the paint, directly applied from the tube, as a physical part of the painting. Colours became charges of dynamite, full of violent colour and distortions - one can almost feel the artists' presence as being part of the creation. They created a new world seen through their own eyes. A world which was entirely their own personal vista. Their apparently crude draughtmanship and brilliant but random colours gave them their unique freshness and spontaneity. It was a new found freedom of colour and free interpretation of familiar subjects, an intensity of expression, which in 1905 was unprecedented. Matisse said " When I use green it is not grass, when I use blue it is not sky".
Even today 100 years later, the power of the colour is undiminished .The works continue to shock and we are supposedly in the post modernism period of art history ! The Salon D'Automne 1905 must have been one of the most exciting and important exhibitions in the history of art. For a moment, empty one's mind and think back to what it must have been like in 1905. We possibly now take their work for granted, due to the widespread influence of the Fauves on successive art movements. But for most spectators in 1905 it was a cacophony of shrill reds, greens and yellows, executed with a disregard for finish, a field day for the art critics. Camille Mauclair ( Le Figaro ) wrote regarding the exhibition - " A pot of paint has been thrown in the Public's face ". It seems to me, that art critics never change - that particular comment could have been written today ! The only thing of note that art critics learn from art history is that it teaches them nothing.
Albert Einstein established the theory of relativity in 1905 , why did'nt he invent a time machine ? If Albert had obliged my conceit - my time machine dial would be firmly set at Paris, the 18th of November, 1905. Dream on....................... possibly meeting a young Pablo Picasso ( 1881 - 1973 ) who most definitely would have attended the exhibition. In 1907 both Georges Braque ( 1882 - 1963 - briefly connected with fauvism ) and Picasso were suggesting new visual possibilities through their research into what was shortly to become Cubism , a direct successor to Fauvism.
Fauvism was a period of experimentation, without a manifesto, directed by a group of like-minded young artists, who never formally established a movement. It was, for all of them involved, a transitional stage in their careers. Nonetheless they were certainly the catalyst of many movements which were destined to follow. " When the Fauves had ceased to roar " wrote Apollinaire," The kingdom of the Fauves, whose civilization had seemed so powerful, so new, so astounding, suddenly took the aspect of a deserted village ". It seems to me, if Apollinaire were alive today, he would in retrospect, gladly amend his comment : - " A deserted Village soon to be soon re-populated by giants of 20th century art, such as Picasso, Braque, Kandinsky, Beckmann and many more ". Apollinaire was sympathetic to their cause, and I am sure would not be suprised to learn of their influence on subsequent movements.
Although a short interlude in the encyclopedias of art history, Fauvism still continues to reverberate today in the hallowed halls of my ideal art gallery............ incidentally that's where I also store my Time Machine !
