Kees van Dongen | |
|---|---|
 Van Dongen in his studio c. 1910 | |
| Born | Cornelis Theodorus Maria van Dongen (1877-01-26)26 January 1877[1] Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Died | 28 May 1968(1968-05-28) (aged 91) Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Nationality | Dutch French (awarded 1929)[1] |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Fauvism |
Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees"van Dongen (26 January 1877 – 28 May 1968) was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leadingFauves.[2] Van Dongen's early work was influenced by theHague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually into a rough pointillist style. From 1905 onwards – when he took part at the controversial 1905Salon d'Automne exhibition – his style became more and more radical in its use of form and colour. The paintings he made in the period of 1905–1910 are considered by some to be his most important works.[3] The themes of his work from that period are predominantly centered on the nightlife. He painted dancers, singers, masquerades, and theatre. Van Dongen gained a reputation for his sensuous – at times garish – portraits, especially of women.
Kees van Dongen was born inDelfshaven, then on the outskirts, and today a borough, ofRotterdam. He was the second of four children in a middle-class family.[4] In 1892, at age 16, Kees van Dongen started his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, working with J. Striening and J.G. Heyberg.[4] During this period (1892–97), Van Dongen frequented the Red Quarter seaport area, where he drew scenes of sailors and prostitutes. He metAugusta Preitinger at the Academy, a fellow painter.
In 1897, Van Dongen lived in Paris for several months, where there was a large emigre community. In December 1899, he returned from Rotterdam to Paris, where Preitinger had moved before him and found work.[4]
He returned to joinAugusta Preitinger ("Guus"), whom he had met at the Academy. They married on 11 July 1901. They had two children together: a son died a couple of days after birth in December 1901; their daughter Augusta, called "Dolly", was born 18 April 1905. Around that time, Van Dongen produced a painting ofFernande Olivier, which was the reason why — according toGertrude Stein in her 1933 bookThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas — hebroke into notoriety. Apparently, according to Stein:
Van Dongen did not admit that this picture was a portrait of Fernande, although she had sat for it and there was in consequence much bitterness. Van Dongen in these days was poor, he had a dutch wife who was a vegetarian and they lived on spinach. Van Dongen frequently escaped from the spinach to a joint in Montmartre where the girls paid for his dinner and his drinks.[5]
Guus took Dolly to see their families in Rotterdam in the summer of 1914, where they were caught by the outbreak ofWorld War I. They were not able to return to Paris until 1918. Preitinger and Van Dongen divorced in 1921.[6]
In 1917, Van Dongen had become involved with a married socialite, the fashion directorLéa Alvin, also known as Jasmy Jacob. Their relationship lasted until 1927.[7]
Van Dongen began to exhibit in Paris, and participated in the controversial 1905Salon d'Automne exhibition[8] along withHenri Matisse,André Derain,Albert Marquet,Maurice de Vlaminck,Charles Camoin, andJean Puy. The bright colours of this group of artists led to them being calledFauves ('Wild Beasts') by art criticLouis Vauxcelles.[9] Van Dongen was also briefly a member of the GermanExpressionist groupDie Brücke.
In these years, he was part of an avant-garde wave of painters, including Maurice de Vlaminck,Othon Friesz,Henri Rousseau,Robert Delaunay, Albert Marquet,Édouard Vuillard, who aspired to a renewal of painting which they thought was stuck inneo-impressionism.
In 1906, Preitinger and Van Dongen moved to theBateau Lavoir at 13 rue Ravignan inMontmartre, where they were friends with the circle surroundingPablo Picasso and his girlfriendFernande Olivier.[5]He taught at theAcadémie Vitti in 1912.[10]
In addition to selling his paintings, Van Dongen also gained an income by selling satirical sketches to the newspaperRevue Blanche. He also organised very successful costume balls inMontparnasse, to which people paid admission, to gain extra income.
After the First World War, under the influence of his companion, the fashion director Lea Alvin (Jasmy Jacob), among others, Van Dongen developed the lush colours of his Fauvist style. This earned him a solid reputation with the French bourgeoisie and upper class, where he was in demand for his portraits. As a fashionable portraitist, he was commissioned for subjects includingArletty,Louis Barthou,Sacha Guitry,Leopold III of Belgium,Anna de Noailles,Madame Grès andMaurice Chevalier.
With a playful cynicism he remarked of his popularity as a portraitist with high society women, "The essential thing is to elongate the women and especially to make them slim. After that it just remains to enlarge their jewels. They are ravished."[11] This remark is reminiscent of another of his sayings: "Painting is the most beautiful of lies".[11]
In 1957,Kay Thompson featured one of his paintings in her bookEloise in Paris.
The social and commercial appeal of his later work (such as a 1959 portrait ofBrigitte Bardot in a little black dress, with her hair tousled) did not match the artistic promise or thebohemian eroticism of his first three decades of work.[12]
From 1959, Kees van Dongen lived inMonaco. He died in his home inMonte Carlo in 1968.[13] An extensive collection of van Dongen's work is held by theNew National Museum of Monaco.[14] His work was also part of thepainting event in theart competition at the1932 Summer Olympics.[15]
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