Derain, André

Derain, André (äNdrā` dərăN`), 1880–1954, French painter. He studied for a short time under Carrière. Derain's friendship with Vlaminck and Matisse led to his association c.1905 with the fauves. Forceful in his application of pure, bright patches of color, he was for a while prominent as an exponent of fauvism. His portrait of Matisse (1905; Philadelphia Mus. of Art) is a characteristic fauvist composition. Early in his career, however, Derain revealed a tendency toward an architectonic arrangement of forms, and his art gradually assumed a more conservative expression. He was influenced by African art and the work of French and Italian primitives. Derain is well represented in American collections, including the Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Conn., and the Art Institute, Chicago.

Bibliography

See study by D. Sutton (1959).

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Derain, André

(born June 10, 1880, Chatou, Fr.—died Sept. 8, 1954, Garches) French painter, graphic artist, and designer. After studying in Paris at the Académie Carrière and Académie Julian, he developed his early style in association with his friends Maurice de Vlaminck and Henri Matisse; the three were the principal exponents of Fauvism. Their landscapes and figure studies featured brilliant colours, broken brushstrokes, and impulsive lines. By the 1920s, however, Derain had turned to the Neoclassical style (see Classicism and Neoclassicism). He produced numerous book illustrations and designs for stage sets, notably for Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

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Derain, André 

Born June 10, 1880, in Châtou; died Sept. 8, 1954, in Garches (both towns near Versailles). French painter.

Derain studied in Paris with E. CarriÉre (1898-99) and at the Academic Julian (1904). Between 1905 and 1906 he painted landscapes in the fauvist style, intent on conveying the intensity of nature. The decorative effect of the paintings is based on the utmost intensity of vibration of large patches of pure, contrasting colors (London Harbor, 1906, Tate Gallery, London).

Around 1908, Derain’s style changed under the influence of Cezanne and early cubism; his composition acquired rational rigor, his forms took on geometric simplicity and substantiality, and his colors became restrained and somber, based on greenish, brown, and lead gray hues (A Path Through the Woods in Fontainebleau, A. S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow). In the second decade of the 20th century gloomy and static renderings appeared in Derain’s creative work in subjects reflecting the dreary monotony of everyday provincial life (Saturday, 1911-14, A. S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow). In the 1920’s, the artist turned to strict, classical drawing, lapsing into passionless, coldly stylized work.

REFERENCE

Sutton, D. André Derain. London, 1959.