Vlaminck

Houses and Trees

Vlaminck

By Thea Tweet

Even a close inspection of the painting Houses and Trees gives no hint of the turbulent early life of the young Maurice Vlaminck. Although he was born in Paris, he spent most of his youth on his grandmother’s farm, where his parents eked out a living as professional musicians, his father a violinist and his mother a pianist.  Of course, Maurice was taught to play the violin, but his first love was the bicycle. He was the Lance Armstrong of his day until a bout of typhoid fever brought an end to his racing career in 1896.

Vlaminck became an anarchist during his required period of military service in 1897 - 1900. Those years also marked the beginning of his career as a writer, a career which he pursued during his entire life.  Fortunately, we have his autobiography, which corrects some of the distortions of contemporary criticism.

Vlaminck began to paint in 1900, and through an accidental acquaintance with Maurice Derain he adopted an early style which came to be called, rather derisively, Les Fauves (The Wild Beasts). In fact, he was called “that peasant, Vlaminck.”  Since he had next to no training, Vlaminck began by literally squeezing the paint from the tubes directly on to the canvas until he slowly mastered the use of the brush. The first exhibit of Les Fauves in 1904 included Vlaminck, Derain, Matisse, Rouault and others whose names no longer are easily recognized.

Vlaminck always learned by studying the masters who preceded him. At first it was Van Gogh, but before long it was Cézanne who was most influential. When Vlaminck  recognized that his painting was on the verge of becoming merely decorative, he searched for a new source of inspiration. He stoutly refused to adopt cubism, however, and soon settled into a style that was recognizably his own.

By 1906 he had attracted the attention of the art dealer Vollard, who saw one of his paintings and immediately bought everything in his studio.  By 1908 the vogue for Les Fauves had passed, but Vlaminck never lost spontaneity, a quality which makes his canvases so compelling.  Until Vollard recognized him, Vlaminck was still supporting his family with his violin playing in  clubs at night and teaching during the day.

Before his acquaintance with Vollard, Vlaminck could afford only the cheapest of canvases and paint.  Even at the time of our painting, Vlaminck must have been using the kind of cheap brushes that shed a lot of hair. Close examination of the surface of the painting reveals some of that detritus.

World War I had a profound effect on him. He was saved from being sent to the front by being sent to work in a munitions factory.  After the war he bought two country properties, where he spent the rest of his life painting in their environs. He was never a part of the roaring twenties. He was “earthy,” quite literally, in the sense that he cultivated his own garden.

By the time of the painting Houses and Trees (1911-1913) Vlaminck was in the first flush of his mature painting style. One can see vestiges of Fauvism in the blotchy, indigo blue cloud in the upper right hand corner, and homage to Cézanne in the dark green lakes of color.  The dazzling white light which enters below the dark cloud in the upper right corner saves the atmosphere from gloom. He compels the eye to move through the canvas by repeating the red on the building roofs with red spots on the trees.  There is even a hint of abstraction in the
ochre rectangles where he has dragged the color down. Most characteristic of all are the slanting trees which create the illusion of movement. You can imagine Vlaminck cycling by, keenly observing light and shade and then going home to create the painting so much admired today.
                                                       
Vlaminck may have abjured the term Fauve, but it has a long life. It erupted again in the music world when it was used to describe the music of Stravinsky, whose “Rite of Spring” was first performed in 1913. Those raucous notes are to this day described as “Fauve.”

Houses and Trees have frequently been requested for loan to various exhibitions. Perhaps its most distant travel has been to Osaka, Japan. An exhibit of paintings described as Fauve appeared as late as 2004 in the National Gallery in Washington, DC.

At the Memorial Art Gallery, Vlaminck’s painting at present hangs next to the German Expressionist Kirchner, which is chronologically quite correct, but in stylistic terms is really more at home with Cézanne. If it were available, a painting by Mondrian would be perfect, as Vlaminck much admired him.  Wherever Houses and Trees is placed, it excites pleasure in its excellence.