Biography of André Derain
September 8, 1954
André Derain was born on 10 June 1880 in Chatou (Paris), to a wealthy bourgeois family. Despite his father's wishes, he would engineer, in 1898 he enrolled at the Academy Julian; in the following years knows Maurice de Vlaminck and Henri Matisse: either persuade him to devote himself entirely to painting. In 1899 the realization of "the funeral" (currently preserved in "Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation Collection" from New York), while two years later is "the way to Calvary" (now at the Kunstmuseum in Bern, Switzerland). At first, he painted landscapes with unmixed, pure colors, along the Seine, influenced by Vlaminck; only twenty-five years has the ability to expose, among the Fauves, the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Independants. In fact its current membership fauve is not total, from the earliest works, characterized by refined tones and bold color choices (such as in "L'estaque"): André Derain, in fact, believes that it will be able to enclose the exuberance of the colors in the classic harmony of the composition, in the wake of the works of the old masters whose is a great admirer.
In 1905 he paints, among other things, "the surroundings of Collioure", "portrait of Henri Matisse" and "Lucien Gilbert". After a brief period of proximity to Paul Gauguin (during which there is a decrease in vivid colors), in 1909 has the opportunity to present a volume of poems written by Guillaume Apollinaire; three years later, however, with their art adorns a collection of poems by Max Jacob. After demonstrating, in 1916, the first book of André Breton, and-later-the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, Derain produces the images for an edition of the "Satyricon" by Petronius. Meanwhile, he continued to paint: has the opportunity to bring Pablo Picasso (but he keeps away from techniques all too bold of cubism), before returning to chiaroscuro and perspective, much more traditional. On the heels of many other European artists of his time (as Giorgio De Chirico and Gino Severini), is thus a return to order and classical forms, getting closer to what happens in Germany with the new objectivity. Since 1911, the so-called Gothic period by André Derain, characterized by influences of African sculpture and primitive in France: in recent months paints still lifes and solemn figures (remember "the Sabbath" and "dinner").
Since 1913 the Parisian artist focuses on paintings of figure: self-portraits, but also genre scenes and portraits. After being deployed, at the end of World War I, against the spread of surrealism and Dadaism, held anti-artistic movements, he devoted himself to the study of the ancient painters during a trip to London and Rome. The 1920s represent the pinnacle of his success. In 1928 André Derain wins the prize "Carnegie", granted to the canvas "the hunt", and during the same period he exhibited his works in London, Berlin, New York, Frankfurt, Duesseldorf and Cincinnati. During the occupation of France by the Germans, Derain stays in Paris, despite being courted by Germany as a representative of the prestige of French culture. In 1941, rejected the leadership of the National School of fine arts in Paris, making an official trip to Berlin, along with other French artists, to take part in an exhibition of Arno Breker Nazi.
The presence of Derain in Germany is being exploited by Hitler's propaganda, to the point that, after liberation, the artist is held up as a collaborator and ostracized by many of those who supported him before. Isolatosi more and more from the rest of the world, in the early 1950s André Derain contracted an eye infection from which she never fully recover. Died on 8 September 1954 in Garches, Hauts-de-Seine, run over by a vehicle. Derain is leaving the legacy of a painting strongly influenced by Neo (especially at the beginning of the 20th century) and a significantly large production often marked by a naturalism to Caravaggio. Tied to aesthetics fauve never accede to it completely, André Derain reveals with respect to it an art more serene, bright and composed.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.