Art History; Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of Les Fauves, a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasised painterly qualities and colour over the representational or realistic values retained by the Impressionist movement. Approximately established in 1905, The name Les Fauves ('the wild beasts') was coined by the critic Louis Vauxcelles when he saw the work of Henri Matisse and André Derain in an exhibition, the salon d'automne in Paris, in 1905. Fauvism Characteristics and Style was known for bold, vibrant, almost acidic colours used in unusual juxtaposition, and an intuitive, highly gestural application of paint. The artists of Fauvism were experimenting with how colour could be liberated from the subject matter. Techniques of Fauve artists used colours aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas. The Fauves painted directly from nature, as the Impressionists had before them, but Fauvist works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects portrayed. One of Fauvism's major contributions to modern art was its radical goal of separating colour from its descriptive, representational purpose and allowing it to exist on the canvas as an independent element. The forms of the subjects were also simplified making their work appear quite abstract.

Other like-minded artists associated with fauvism included Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy, Georges Rouault, and Maurice de Vlaminck. Some art historians conclude that Fauvism combines the post-impressionism of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh with the neo-impressionism of French artist, Georges Seurat. Fauvism is often compared to German expressionism. As both movements emerged around the same time and were inspired by the developments of post-impressionism. 

The influences of these earlier movements inspired Matisse and his followers to reject traditional three-dimensional space and instead use flat areas or patches of colour to create a new pictorial space. Fauvism can also be recognized as a form of expressionism in its use of brilliant colours and spontaneous brushwork. 

As one of the first avant-garde modernist movements of the twentieth century and one of the first styles to make a move towards abstraction, for many of the artists who adopted a fauvist approach it became a transitional stepping stone for future developments in their style. By 1908 most of the main artists in the group had moved away from the expressive emotionalism of fauvism. A renewed interest in post-impressionist artist Paul Cézanne and the analytical approach he took to painting landscapes, people and objects inspired many artists to embrace order and structure instead. One–time fauvist Georges Braque went on to develop cubism along with Pablo Picasso while one of fauvism’s founders André Derain adopted a more conventional neoclassical style. Henri Matisse however continued to use the distinctive fauvist traits of bright emotive colours, simple shapes and painterly mark-making throughout his career. 

The movement is suggested to have ended between 1908-1910. Although a short lived movement one with bold intentions.

British pronunciation of fauvism; Fow-Vuh-zm.