André Derain | |
|---|---|
 Derain in 1903 | |
| Born | (1880-06-10)10 June 1880 |
| Died | 8 September 1954(1954-09-08) (aged 74) Garches,Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France |
| Education | Académie Camillo,Académie Julian |
| Known for | Painting,sculpture |
| Movement | Fauvism |
André Derain (/dəˈræ̃/,French:[ɑ̃dʁedəʁɛ̃]; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder, withHenri Matisse, ofFauvism.[1] His paintings of 1905–1906 are characterized by riotous colourism in the Fauve style. By 1910, however, his work had become more austere as a result of his study ofCézanne and theold masters. After theFirst World War, Derain became one of the leaders of the newclassicism in the arts known as theReturn to Order.
Derain was born in 1880 inChatou,Yvelines,Île-de-France, just outside Paris. In 1895 he began to study on his own, contrary to claims that meetingVlaminck orMatisse began his efforts to paint, and occasionally went to the countryside with an old friend ofCézanne's, Father Jacomin along with his two sons.[2] In 1898, while studying to be an engineer at the Académie Camillo,[3] he attended painting classes underEugène Carrière, and there met Matisse. In 1900, he met and shared a studio withMaurice de Vlaminck and together they began to paint scenes in the neighbourhood, but this was interrupted by military service atCommercy from September 1901 to 1904.[4] Following his release from service, Matisse persuaded Derain's parents to allow him to abandon his engineering career and devote himself solely to painting; subsequently Derain attended theAcadémie Julian.[5]
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Derain and Matisse worked together through the summer of 1905 in theMediterranean village ofCollioure and Derain completed theMountains at Collioure painting.[6] Later that year they displayed their highly innovative paintings at theSalon d'Automne. The vivid, unnatural colors led the criticLouis Vauxcelles to derisively dub their works asles Fauves, or "the wild beasts", marking the start of theFauvist movement.[7] (In 2023, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and theMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston, co-organized and exhibitedVertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism, an exhibit examining their work together and the birth of Fauvism.)
In March 1906, the noted art dealerAmbroise Vollard sent Derain to London to produce a series of paintings with the city as subject. In 30 paintings (29 of which are still extant), Derain presented a portrait of London that was radically different from anything done by previous painters of the city such asWhistler orMonet. With bold colors and compositions, Derain painted multiple pictures of theThames andTower Bridge. These London paintings remain among his most popular work. Art critic T. G Rosenthal: "Not since Monet has anyone made London seem so fresh and yet remain quintessentially English. Some of his views of the Thames use thePointillist technique of multiple dots, although by this time, because the dots have become much larger, it is rather more simply the separation of colours calledDivisionism and it is peculiarly effective in conveying the fragmentation of colour in moving water in sunlight."[8]
In 1907 art dealerDaniel-Henry Kahnweiler purchased Derain's entire studio, granting Derain financial stability. He experimented with stone sculpture and moved toMontmartre to be near his friendPablo Picasso and other noted artists. Fernande Olivier, Picasso's mistress at the time, described Derain[9] as:
Slim, elegant, with a lively colour and enamelled black hair. With an English chic, somewhat striking. Fancy waistcoats, ties in crude colours, red and green. Always a pipe in his mouth, phlegmatic, mocking, cold, an arguer.
At Montmartre, Derain began to shift from the brilliant Fauvist palette to more muted tones, showing the influence ofCubism andPaul Cézanne.[10] (According toGertrude Stein, Derain may have been influenced by African sculpture before Picasso.)[11] Derain supplied woodcuts inprimitivist style for an edition ofGuillaume Apollinaire's first book of prose,L'enchanteur pourrissant (1909). He displayed works at theNeue Künstlervereinigung inMunich in 1910,[12] in 1912 at the secessionistDer Blaue Reiter[13] and in 1913 at the seminalArmory Show in New York. He also illustrated a collection of poems byMax Jacob in 1912.
At about this time Derain's work began overtly reflecting his study of theOld Masters. The role of colour was reduced and forms became austere; the years 1911–1914 are sometimes referred to as hisgothic period. In 1914 he was mobilized for military service inWorld War I and until his release in 1919 he would have little time for painting, although in 1916 he provided a set of illustrations forAndré Breton's first book,Mont de Piete.
After the war, Derain won new acclaim as a leader of the renewedclassicism then ascendant. With the wildness of his Fauve years far behind, he was admired as an upholder of tradition.[14] In 1919 he designed theballetLa Boutique fantasque forDiaghilev, leader of theBallets Russes.[15] A major success, it would lead to his creating many ballet designs.
The 1920s marked the height of his success, as he was awarded theCarnegie Prize in 1928 for hisStill-life with Dead Game and began to exhibit extensively abroad—in London, Berlin,Frankfurt,Düsseldorf, New York City andCincinnati,Ohio.[9]
During the German occupation of France inWorld War II, Derain lived primarily in Paris and was much courted by the Germans because he represented the prestige of French culture. Derain accepted an invitation to make an official visit to Germany in 1941, and traveled with other French artists to Berlin to attend aNazi exhibition of anofficially endorsed artist,Arno Breker.[10] Derain's presence in Germany was used effectively byNazi propaganda, and after theLiberation he was branded acollaborator and ostracized by many former supporters.[16]
A year before his death, he contracted an eye infection from which he never fully recovered. He died inGarches,Hauts-de-Seine,Île-de-France, France in 1954 when he was struck by a moving vehicle.[17]
Derain's London paintings were the subject of a major exhibition at theCourtauld Institute from 27 October 2005 to 22 January 2006.[18]
In 2025, all of Derain’s work entered thepublic domain in the United States.[19]
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Among the public collections holding works by André Derain are:
In 2020, a French court ordered that three paintings by Derain,Paysage à Cassis (ou Vue de Cassis),La Chapelle-sous-Crécy were restituted[25] andPinède, Cassis should be restituted to the heirs ofRené Gimpel, from whom they had been looted during the Nazi occupation of France.[26] Gimpel's family had submitted the claim in 2013.[27] In 2023 Derain'sStill Life With a Bottle was restituted to the heirs of Dane Reichsmann, who was murdered in Auschwitz with his wife.[28][29]
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