Friday, March 21, 2014

French And Russian-French Paintings

By Darren Hartley


In the traditional Flemish style, Matisse paintings began as still lives and landscapes. They were completed with reasonable proficiency. Primarily known as a painter, Henri-Emile-Benoit Matisse was also a French poet, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor.

The first contemporary art experimentations by Henri earned for him a rebellious reputation. They also had the aura of gloom because these early Matisse paintings were done using a dark palette.

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.

From 1899 to 1905, Matisse paintings made use of the pointillist technique as adopted from Signac. Meanwhile, in 1902-03, they went back to dark palettes, briefly showing a movement back to naturalism.

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

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.

A number of Marc Chagall paintings, including The Pinch of Snuff, The Cattle Dealer and I and the Village, were filled with love and nostalgia. The Marc Chagall paintings remained immersed in nostalgia during the First World War. The difference in Marc's paintings during the war was their becoming very multifaceted in their representation of everyday life.

During this period, the Marc Chagall paintings completed included 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.




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