Tuesday, March 25, 2014

A Glimpse Through 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.

Most of the early Matisse paintings employed a dark palette, thus, had the tendency to be gloomy. Henri's first contemporary art experimentations earned a rebellious reputation.

With the introduction of Impressionism between 1897 and 1898, Matisse paintings underwent a complete change in style. The Dinner Table was considered the first masterpiece among the Matisse paintings. This painting was completed in 1897 and was considered radical given its impressionist aspects during that period.

By 1899, Matisse paintings displayed rebellious talents with not much clear direction. To organize his thoughts and sensations whenever his paintings seemed stuck, Henri turned to sculpture.

Influenced by the works of the post-impressionist painters and the Japanese artists, Matisse paintings made color its crucial element. This contributed to a reconstruction in the still life philosophy of Henri. Patterned after Paul Cezanne's fragmented planes, Matisse paintings were stretched to a forced contemplation of the color surfaces.

The Matisse paintings from 1899 to 1905 made use of the pointillist technique as adopted from Signac. In 1902-03, the Matisse paintings went back to dark palettes and showed a brief movement back to naturalism.

The early Marc Chagall paintings showed fabulous and metaphoric images on everyday life as exemplified in Birth, The Deal and A Holy Family. Marc Zakharovich Chagall was a Russian-French artist referred to as the quintessential Jewish artist of the 20th century.

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.

Filled with love and nostalgia are Marc Chagall paintings such as The Pinch of Snuff, The Cattle Dealer and I and the Village. However, during the First World War, the Marc Chagall paintings became very multifaceted in their everyday life representation despite remaining immersed in nostalgia.

Window at the Dacha, War, Red Jew, Feast of the Tabernacles, Birthday, Pink Lovers, The Promenade and Bella with White Collar were some of the Marc Chagall paintings exhibited during this period in Marc's life.

War reflected human grief and hardships of war. Red Jew and Feast of the Tabernacles were strongly religious Marc Chagall paintings resulting from intensification of the Jewish persecution. The last 4 Marc Chagall paintings were lyrical works filled with love towards a woman named Bella.




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