Vlaminck, An instinct fauve Senate 
Exposure Vlaminck (1876 - 1958) currently showing at the Senate
dedicated to the early years of the painter fawn, from 1900 to 1915 period itself split in two, marked by the caesura of 1907 and the discovery of Cézanne's work substantially reorients the color. Color, it is the great business of Vlaminck, as can be read
here or there (
Cross ,
Street 89, F3 and here and there) . The first years in the companionship of Matisse and Derain are actually marked the strong colors which is not so unbridled as that. Let me explain. Too many comments abuse a rhetoric of "savagery," "explosion", the "outburst" without rule of pigments on the canvas. Maybe that how these paintings were perceived in their time.
2008 Viewers may find that the storm seems colored wiser with hindsight, revealing (perhaps) at the same time which is at the heart of the process. Vlaminck's paintings are at their best when they are not an explosive scene but unbridled this
internal voltage to the panel, between colors and shapes, some still on the point of overflow or burst the others, but only on the point, and without erasing the forms of representation. Wheats red, pink clouds, colorful bridges on the Seine, with their shimmering blue, ocher, green: everything seems to roast, glowing with particular intensity at the edge of the quartering. The colors work organizing the table, they blow up the representation of reality, but not quite explode and do not break the ropes with him. Except in very rare exceptions, it is true, then that flirt with abstraction, or abstract expressionism.
It is all the more remarkable that the artist is engaged in this work on the color of the sky gray and Chatou near Paris, where his fellow swore that southern sun. Vlaminck but quickly notes the limits of excess dye:
"The game of pure c olour in which I threw myself headlong no longer satisfied me. I suffered from not being able to hit harder, to be reached the maximum intensity, I am still limited by the blue or red color of the merchant. A second striking thing, in the paintings exhibited there, is the recurrent theme of the smoke that cigarette, pipe, the smokestack or the tug, clouds ... There are few paintings where the theme is totally absent. Now smoke is a central element of any discussion on the form and visible by its evanescence, its precariousness, smoke illustrates the tension of form and formlessness, the emergence and disappearance. We remember the beautiful book by Henri Atlan
on this topic.
The discovery of Cézanne in 1907 marks a point of no return. As if he had reached the end of his exploration color, Vlaminck worked on fragmented forms of space, perspective distortions, in shades of brown, gray, ocher, inspired by Cubism. It is also an opportunity to approach another on the color, contrast effects
, the chiaroscuro, the superposition of white and black, red and green (red roofs), hamlets colored input ' ls seen through dark branches. In these tables, it still perceives the lesson of Cézanne.
The visitor will cross over course of the exhibition gallery Ambroise Vollard (always him), through which the artist gained fame and fortune. The ceramics (jars, plates) made on its advice with Andre Metthey, worth a look. Finally, some beautiful statues of art whose first Vlaminck was an early supporter and collector, in light of pre-war paintings, soft colors, soft, almost erased in the fog (still smoke), provide evidence for a Vlaminck reading as much marked by work on form and the fascination of color.
Vlaminck, an instinct tawny exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg 19, rue de Vaugirard, Paris VI - until July 20 - Mon & Fri 10.30am-22h, Tue, Wed, Thu and Sat 10:30 to 19h, Sunday from 9h to 19h - Res.: 08-92-684-694 - 6 € / 11 €.
There are works that are so huge and have so often been commented on, discussed, they become intimidating. So, paradoxically, it is said to address them it is better to start with introductions, manuals, books deemed to be "more accessible", which are still different access at work, and are often limited to repeat About the author's original, and less clearly. Unable to 
DVD Claude Levi-Strauss proposed by Editions Montparnasse consists of the entire exchange (5:00), and a selection of excerpts that can go around the work in less than an hour. This is a great opportunity to penetrate the heart of the development process and issues raised by the mythological, the basic structures of kinship, see presentation in simple terms, and free from the gloss that usually surrounds it, the meaning of work of the father of French structuralism. Great time guaranteed. 
