Thursday, March 27, 2014

French And Russian-French Paintings

By Darren Hartley


Matisse paintings began as still-lives and landscapes in the traditional Flemish style with reasonable proficiency. Henri-Emile-Benoit Matisse was a French artist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor, primarily known as a painter.

The early Matisse paintings tended towards the gloomy, due to the fact that Henri used a dark palette in accomplishing them. It was a rebellious reputation that his first contemporary art experimentations garnered.

It was between 1897 and 1898 that Matisse paintings took a complete change of style with their introduction to Impressionism. The first masterpiece among the Matisse paintings was The Dinner Table, completed in 1897. It was considered radical with its impressionist aspects at the time.

Without much clear direction, Matisse paintings displayed Henri's rebellious talents by 1899. Whenever he got stuck with his paintings, Henri turned to sculpture for the organization of his thoughts and sensations.

Color was a crucial element in Matisse paintings. This practice was influenced by the post-impressionist works as well as by the Japanese art. It also led to reconstruction of Henri's own philosophy on still life. Henri stretched his paintings to a forced contemplation of the color surfaces. This stretch was patterned after the fragmented planes of Paul Cezanne.

Adopted from Signac, the Matisse paintings made use of the pointillist technique from 1899 to 1905. Showing a brief movement back to naturalism, they again utilized dark palettes in 1902-03.

A Russian-French artist named Marc Zakharovich Chagall was considered the quintessential 20th century Jewish artist. Marc Chagall paintings exhibited fabulous and metaphoric images on everyday life. This was clearly manifested in Marc's early works including Birth, The Deal and A Holy Family.

Aside from demonstrating a perfect feeling of colors and a mastery of the Fauvism methods, Marc Chagall paintings also exemplified a mastery of Cubism, Futurism and Orphism, new trends and tendencies gaining recognition at the time. However, these new styles were reshaped in the Marc way and can be gleamed from his depiction of The Violinist, To My Betrothed, Golgotha and Paris Through the Window.

Marc Chagall paintings that are filled with love and nostalgia included The Pinch of Snuff, The Cattle Dealer and I and the Village. During the First World War, the Marc Chagall paintings became very multifaceted, immersed in nostalgia and represented everyday life.

Among the Marc Chagall paintings completed during this period were Window at the Dacha, War, Red Jew, Feast of the Tabernacles, Birthday, Pink Lovers, The Promenade and Bella with White Collar.

War was a reflection of human grief and hardships during the war. The strongly religious Marc Chagall paintings, Red Jew and Feast of the Tabernacles were a result of the Jewish persecution intensification. Filled with love towards a woman named Bella, the last aforementioned 4 Marc Chagall paintings were considered lyrical works.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment