André Derain
Chatou, Parigi, 1880 - Garches, 1954
He enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering to fulfill his parents' wishes, but interrupted his studies to devote himself entirely to painting. From 1896 to 1898 he attended the Académie Carrière where he met Matisse. In 1901 he formed a bond of friendship with De Vlaminck, a few years older, and they both found themselves painting in the same Atelier in Chatou, giving rise to what would later be called the Ecole de Chatou; here they painted the banks of the Seine, rowers and places where the Impressionists had already been. That same year the two friends were shocked by the power of the canvases on display at the Van Gogh retrospective exhibition and, influenced by the master, began to paint in large fields of pure color, without shadows or perspective.
After his military service Derain enrolls in the Académie Julian and sets up in an Atelier on Rue Tourlaque in Montmartre, which, around 1905 is one of the most popular places for artists. He began copying masterpieces from the Louvre, and his friend De Vlaminck, who totally disagreed with the choice, momentarily broke away from him. From March 24 to April 30, 1905, Derain exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants.
He spends the summer of 1905 in Collioure in the company of Matisse, who introduces him to the dealer Ambroise Vollard; back in Paris, from October 18 to November 25, he participates in the Salon d'Automne together with Matisse, De Vlaminck, Friesz, Manguin, and Van Dongen. The exhibition was a scandal for the well-thinking society of the time; these painters, who had turned away from Impressionism because of the wild expressive violence of color, spread in strong and pure tones, were referred to by the French critic De Vauxcelles as "Fauves," or "beasts." Because of the quality of his work, Derain soon proved to be one of the central figures of Fauvism.
On January 30, 1906, on the advice of Ambroise Vollard, who began to buy several of his works, Derain left for London, staying until mid-March. From here he brings back some of the strongest paintings of the Fauve period. On his return to Paris he meets Georges Braques with whom he makes a trip to l'Estaque on the French Riviera. At the same time he befriends Picasso with whom he will paint at Cadaquès in 1910.
When, in the fall of 1907, Derain visited Picasso's atelier at the Bateau-Lavoir, he was shocked by Les Damoiselles d'Avignon. In the winter of that year, a crisis led him to destroy numerous works placed in his atelier. It is difficult to be able to understand the evolution of Derain's painting at this time; he does not participate in or follow the paths opened up by Picasso and Braques toward analytic cubism, but embarks on an entirely personal path.
From 1907 he has doubts and second thoughts about Fauvism, which no longer satisfies him. He becomes interested in African art, transmitting his passion also to Picasso; he studies in depth the classical masters: Raphael, Leonardo, Poussin, Corot returning to a sober painting, to the synthesis of the great styles of the past with a personal sensitivity. Meanwhile, he entered Kahnweiler's prestigious Parisian gallery.
The outbreak of war surprises him in Montfavet where he had spent the summer with Braque and Picasso; soon he is forced to leave for the front.
In 1916 he was given a solo exhibition at the gallery of art dealer Paul Guillaume, who would support him throughout his life. In 1919 he made decorations and costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in the opera "La Boutique Fantasque" with music by Rossini.
A painter of figures, nudes, landscapes and, starting in 1920, perfectly constructed still lifes, his aim is to achieve the synthesis of the great styles of the past by reinterpreting them according to a modern vision. In portraits and nudes, he is often inspired by the models of classical painting; the repetition of the same subjects answers a peculiar question of his: how to render the specificity of the complexion, the weight of the human body, the movement of the hands, etc.? Derain finds the answer in continuous, exaggerated exercise. Here, then, he explores the limits of painting, eviscerates all his doubts in a continuous search for truth. Derain does not seek to please, he seeks truth.
In 1928 he won the famous Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh.
Between 1931 and 1945 Derain does not seek new ways, but his way of painting changes. He deepens his work on light and shadows; a kind of new freshness and naiveté characterize the works of these years, so much so that Giacometti, after seeing them, declares, "... all of Derain's canvases, without exception, made me stop, all of them forced me to take a long look to search for what they were hiding [...] I was attracted, interested and much more so those after the Fauve era..."
From 1935 he resided in Chambourcy and returned less and less to Paris. From 1939, while continuing to paint, he devoted himself to sculpture.
On the occasion of the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1937 the exhibition Maîtres de l'Art Contemporain is held at the Petit Palais where Derain exhibits thirty works representative of the diversity of his themes.
In 1940 a solo exhibition of his work is organized at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. That same year, faced with the German advance, he moved to Normandy with his family and André Utter. At the end of October they return to Chambourcy and find the house devastated; the Germans have occupied it, destroying most of the works and short films (some of them made with Braque). He only regained ownership after the liberation in 1944.
After the war he participated in a long series of solo and group exhibitions: Galerie Bing, Paris (1947); Galerie de Berri, Paris (1949); David Finlay Galleries and Sidney Janis Gallery, New York - Kunsthalle, Bern, (1950); Galerie Roland Browse & Del Banco, London - "Le Fauvisme," Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris (1951); "Le Fauvisme," Musée de Beaux-Arts, Rennes (1951); "Modern French Masters," Columbus and Akron, Ohio, Worchester, Massachusetts - "Les Fauves," Museum of Modern Art New York (1952-1953).
Among the numerous posthumous exhibitions organized in his honor are: Marcq-en-Baroeul in 1981-82; Musée d'Art Moderne, Troyes, 1991; Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1991; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1994; Musée Despiau-Wlérick in Mont-de-Marsan, 1995; Galerie Schmit, Paris, 2003.
Museums:
Grenoble; Marseille (Cantini Museum); Paris (Musée National d'Art Moderne); Versailles - France; Basel (Kunstmuseum); Bern - Switzerland; Chigago (Art Institute); Houston; New York (Museum of Moden Art); Pittsburgh (Carnegie Institute) - United States; Cologne (Wallraf-Richartz Museum); Dusseldorf (Nordrhein-Westpahalen Musem) - Germany; Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst) - Denmark; Glasgow (Art Gallery); Leeds (City Art Gallery); Liverpool (The Walker Art Gallery); London (Tate Gallery) - Great Britain; Moscow (Pouchkine Museum); St. Petersburg (Hermitage) - Soviet Union; Ottawa (National Gallery of Canada) - Canada; Prague (National Museum) - Czech Republic.
Bibliography:
Collection Jean Walter – Paul Guillaume, Catalogue, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1966 ; Derain, Accademia di Francia a Roma, Roma, Edizioni dell’Elefante, 1976; P. Cabanne, André Derain, Parigi, Somogy, 1990 ; Un certain Derain, Paris, Parigi, Musée de l’Orangerie, Reunion des Musée Nationaux, 1991; André Derain, Le peintre du « trouble moderne », Paris Musées, 1994 ; N. Kalitina, A. Barskaia, E. Gheorghievskaia, André Derain, Le peintre à l’epreuve du feu, Bournemouth, Parkstone Aurora, 1995 ; M. Kellermann, André Derain, Catalogue raisonnée de l’œuvre peint, Editions Galerie Schmit, Parigi, 1996 ; Le fauvisme ou “l’épreuve du feu” Eruption de la modernità en Europe, Edition des musées de la Ville de Paris, 1999 ; I Fauves e la critica, a cura di Maithé Vallès-Bled, Milano, Electa, 1999 ; Les années fauves, 1904-1908, Paris, Somogy Editions d’art, 2000 ; Da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso, Verso l’arte moderna, a cura di S. Lemoine, Bompiani, 2002 ; André Derain, 1880-1954, Parigi, Galerie Schmit, 2003; André Derain, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Istres ; Da Renoir a Picasso, un secolo d’arte al Petit Palais di Ginevra, a cura di Paola Gribaudo, Milano, Electa, 2001; Da Caillebotte a Picasso, I capolavori della collezione Oscar Ghez dal Museo del Petit Palais di Ginevra a cura di L. Caramel, N. Sainte Fare Garnot, G. Gentry, Milano, Mazzotta, 2003.
© André Derain, by SIAE 2023
After his military service Derain enrolls in the Académie Julian and sets up in an Atelier on Rue Tourlaque in Montmartre, which, around 1905 is one of the most popular places for artists. He began copying masterpieces from the Louvre, and his friend De Vlaminck, who totally disagreed with the choice, momentarily broke away from him. From March 24 to April 30, 1905, Derain exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants.
He spends the summer of 1905 in Collioure in the company of Matisse, who introduces him to the dealer Ambroise Vollard; back in Paris, from October 18 to November 25, he participates in the Salon d'Automne together with Matisse, De Vlaminck, Friesz, Manguin, and Van Dongen. The exhibition was a scandal for the well-thinking society of the time; these painters, who had turned away from Impressionism because of the wild expressive violence of color, spread in strong and pure tones, were referred to by the French critic De Vauxcelles as "Fauves," or "beasts." Because of the quality of his work, Derain soon proved to be one of the central figures of Fauvism.
On January 30, 1906, on the advice of Ambroise Vollard, who began to buy several of his works, Derain left for London, staying until mid-March. From here he brings back some of the strongest paintings of the Fauve period. On his return to Paris he meets Georges Braques with whom he makes a trip to l'Estaque on the French Riviera. At the same time he befriends Picasso with whom he will paint at Cadaquès in 1910.
When, in the fall of 1907, Derain visited Picasso's atelier at the Bateau-Lavoir, he was shocked by Les Damoiselles d'Avignon. In the winter of that year, a crisis led him to destroy numerous works placed in his atelier. It is difficult to be able to understand the evolution of Derain's painting at this time; he does not participate in or follow the paths opened up by Picasso and Braques toward analytic cubism, but embarks on an entirely personal path.
From 1907 he has doubts and second thoughts about Fauvism, which no longer satisfies him. He becomes interested in African art, transmitting his passion also to Picasso; he studies in depth the classical masters: Raphael, Leonardo, Poussin, Corot returning to a sober painting, to the synthesis of the great styles of the past with a personal sensitivity. Meanwhile, he entered Kahnweiler's prestigious Parisian gallery.
The outbreak of war surprises him in Montfavet where he had spent the summer with Braque and Picasso; soon he is forced to leave for the front.
In 1916 he was given a solo exhibition at the gallery of art dealer Paul Guillaume, who would support him throughout his life. In 1919 he made decorations and costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in the opera "La Boutique Fantasque" with music by Rossini.
A painter of figures, nudes, landscapes and, starting in 1920, perfectly constructed still lifes, his aim is to achieve the synthesis of the great styles of the past by reinterpreting them according to a modern vision. In portraits and nudes, he is often inspired by the models of classical painting; the repetition of the same subjects answers a peculiar question of his: how to render the specificity of the complexion, the weight of the human body, the movement of the hands, etc.? Derain finds the answer in continuous, exaggerated exercise. Here, then, he explores the limits of painting, eviscerates all his doubts in a continuous search for truth. Derain does not seek to please, he seeks truth.
In 1928 he won the famous Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh.
Between 1931 and 1945 Derain does not seek new ways, but his way of painting changes. He deepens his work on light and shadows; a kind of new freshness and naiveté characterize the works of these years, so much so that Giacometti, after seeing them, declares, "... all of Derain's canvases, without exception, made me stop, all of them forced me to take a long look to search for what they were hiding [...] I was attracted, interested and much more so those after the Fauve era..."
From 1935 he resided in Chambourcy and returned less and less to Paris. From 1939, while continuing to paint, he devoted himself to sculpture.
On the occasion of the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1937 the exhibition Maîtres de l'Art Contemporain is held at the Petit Palais where Derain exhibits thirty works representative of the diversity of his themes.
In 1940 a solo exhibition of his work is organized at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. That same year, faced with the German advance, he moved to Normandy with his family and André Utter. At the end of October they return to Chambourcy and find the house devastated; the Germans have occupied it, destroying most of the works and short films (some of them made with Braque). He only regained ownership after the liberation in 1944.
After the war he participated in a long series of solo and group exhibitions: Galerie Bing, Paris (1947); Galerie de Berri, Paris (1949); David Finlay Galleries and Sidney Janis Gallery, New York - Kunsthalle, Bern, (1950); Galerie Roland Browse & Del Banco, London - "Le Fauvisme," Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris (1951); "Le Fauvisme," Musée de Beaux-Arts, Rennes (1951); "Modern French Masters," Columbus and Akron, Ohio, Worchester, Massachusetts - "Les Fauves," Museum of Modern Art New York (1952-1953).
Among the numerous posthumous exhibitions organized in his honor are: Marcq-en-Baroeul in 1981-82; Musée d'Art Moderne, Troyes, 1991; Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1991; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1994; Musée Despiau-Wlérick in Mont-de-Marsan, 1995; Galerie Schmit, Paris, 2003.
Museums:
Grenoble; Marseille (Cantini Museum); Paris (Musée National d'Art Moderne); Versailles - France; Basel (Kunstmuseum); Bern - Switzerland; Chigago (Art Institute); Houston; New York (Museum of Moden Art); Pittsburgh (Carnegie Institute) - United States; Cologne (Wallraf-Richartz Museum); Dusseldorf (Nordrhein-Westpahalen Musem) - Germany; Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst) - Denmark; Glasgow (Art Gallery); Leeds (City Art Gallery); Liverpool (The Walker Art Gallery); London (Tate Gallery) - Great Britain; Moscow (Pouchkine Museum); St. Petersburg (Hermitage) - Soviet Union; Ottawa (National Gallery of Canada) - Canada; Prague (National Museum) - Czech Republic.
Bibliography:
Collection Jean Walter – Paul Guillaume, Catalogue, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1966 ; Derain, Accademia di Francia a Roma, Roma, Edizioni dell’Elefante, 1976; P. Cabanne, André Derain, Parigi, Somogy, 1990 ; Un certain Derain, Paris, Parigi, Musée de l’Orangerie, Reunion des Musée Nationaux, 1991; André Derain, Le peintre du « trouble moderne », Paris Musées, 1994 ; N. Kalitina, A. Barskaia, E. Gheorghievskaia, André Derain, Le peintre à l’epreuve du feu, Bournemouth, Parkstone Aurora, 1995 ; M. Kellermann, André Derain, Catalogue raisonnée de l’œuvre peint, Editions Galerie Schmit, Parigi, 1996 ; Le fauvisme ou “l’épreuve du feu” Eruption de la modernità en Europe, Edition des musées de la Ville de Paris, 1999 ; I Fauves e la critica, a cura di Maithé Vallès-Bled, Milano, Electa, 1999 ; Les années fauves, 1904-1908, Paris, Somogy Editions d’art, 2000 ; Da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso, Verso l’arte moderna, a cura di S. Lemoine, Bompiani, 2002 ; André Derain, 1880-1954, Parigi, Galerie Schmit, 2003; André Derain, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Istres ; Da Renoir a Picasso, un secolo d’arte al Petit Palais di Ginevra, a cura di Paola Gribaudo, Milano, Electa, 2001; Da Caillebotte a Picasso, I capolavori della collezione Oscar Ghez dal Museo del Petit Palais di Ginevra a cura di L. Caramel, N. Sainte Fare Garnot, G. Gentry, Milano, Mazzotta, 2003.
© André Derain, by SIAE 2023
