Andre Derain

FAUVIST
Andre Derain (painted by Matisse)
Henri Matisse (painted by Derain)
 Andre Derain
 André Derain was born in Châtou, a suburb of
Paris. Excellent scholar that he was, Derain had
first planned to become an engineer before
suddenly deciding to study art at the Académie
Julian. He shared a studio with his friend
Vlaminck, painted with Matisse at Collioure near
Marseilles, and was a frequent visitor to the
ramshackle studios on the rue Ravignan, known as
the Bateau Lavoir, where his friends Braque and
Picasso worked.
 Andre Derain
 His father was a successful patissier (pastry chef)
and a town councillor and Derain was given a
middle-class education. He disliked school - much
later, he said that 'the teachers, ushers and pupils
were a far more bitter memory for me than the
darkest hours of my military career.' He left 'with few
regrets and the reputation of being a bad, lazy and
noisy scholar', but with a prize for drawing.
 Andre Derain
 In June 1900 he met Maurice de Vlaminck, and
formed a close friendship with him. The two young
artists rented a disused restaurant in Chatou which
they used as a studio, and often shocked their
neighbors with their antics. Meanwhile, Derain
pursued his studies, copying in the Louvre and
visiting exhibitions of contemporary art. He was
extremely impressed by the Van Gogh retrospective
at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, and it was here that
he introduced his two friends, Vlaminck and Matisse,
to one another.
 Andre Derain
 "In the autumn of that year Derain was called up for
military service. He could do little work, but carried
on a lively correspondence with Vlaminck until his
release in September 1904. He returned to Chatou,
and it was at about this time that he got to know the
poet Guillaume Apollinaire. The following year,
1905, was an important one for him. The dealer
Ambroise Vollard, to whom he had been introduced
by Matisse, bought the entire contents of his studio
(he did the same with Vlaminck).
 Andre Derain
 Derain exhibited at the Salon des
Indépendants and sold four pictures, and
then at the Salon d'Automne where he,
Matisse, Vlaminck and others were hung
together as a group, in a space which was
promptly dubbed the 'Cage aux Fauves'
('Cage of Wild Beasts') by a facetious critic,
and Fauvism was officially born.
 Andre Derain
 As a Fauve Derain was principally concerned with
line and color and enjoyed squeezing tubes of
bright color on his canvas, particularly pinks,
blues, and violets. In and around 1908, Derain
turned to the study of form and structure, and
experimented with Cubism, Impressionism, and
the styles of Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Cezanne, in
an effort to find a style that pleased him.
 Andre Derain
 An early interest in the Renaissance masters led
him to a further study of paintings of the past and
he went as far back as the Italian primitives and
the Gothic masters. During his years of study he
worked as a wood-engraver and illustrated many
famous books, like Rabelais' "Pantagruel", a work
indicative of his sensitivity to and understanding of
the past. He also executed a great many sets and
costumes for the Ballet Russe.
 Andre Derain
 In the later years of his career, after 1920, he
painted brilliant still lives, classical landscapes,
and some of the finest portraits of his day,
although none of these were ever exhibited. Derain
was a strange, moody, highly intellectual man who
disliked the painting produced during his own
lifetime to the extent that he retired to the country
to live in almost complete solitude and seemed
almost determined to be forgotten.
 Andre Derain
 Early in 1954, when Derain showed symptoms of eye
trouble and mental incapacity, he was treated at a
clinic near Paris until he became well enough to
return home. Shortly thereafter he was hit by a car
on his way home from a nearby garage. Derain died a
few weeks later from shock.
Boats in the Harbor 1905
 Boats in the Harbor 1905

"Boats" was painted during Derain's earlier

career and represents the port town of
Collioure in southern France where the
Fauve French artists would meet.
St. Paul's Cathedral (1906)
 St. Paul’s Cathedral 1906

 After the great financial success of Claude Monet's

views of the Thames River, André Derain's dealer,
Ambroise Vollard, convinced him to paint London,
too. During two trips to England in 1905 and 1906,
Derain made thirty views of the city. This one
features Sir Christopher Wren's famous 17th-century
cathedral. A Fauve painter, Derain has distilled and
expressed his emotions about the subject using
intensified colors and a simplified design.
Charing Cross Bridge
 Charing Cross Bridge 1906

 Derain went twice to London where he produced

some thirty paintings. Charing Cross Bridge is
recognised as one of the finest Fauvist compositions.
The street and buildings are painted in large flat
tones while the changing sky and water are treated in
small, fragmented touches reminiscent of the Neo-
impressionist style. The forms of the vehicles are
distorted, their silhouettes echoing the curb of the
Victoria embankment to give a sensation of speed.