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COLOUR, LIGHT & LOCATION
Dylan Bedford | RGSHW | A Level Investigation
FAUVISM
Following my work with Hockney and his use of artificial colours in his art pieces, I decided to look at the fauvist movement which similarly uses wild, artificial colours but also pairs it with a much looser style to create a dynamic atmosphere.
PAGE ANNOTATIONS
FAUVISM
The word fauvism comes from the style of 'Les Fauves', French for 'the wild beasts' and reflects the dynamic brushstrokes and bold colours. The movement, started by early twentieth century artists, values loose and rough brushstrokes combined with strong colours over more realistic qualities like in impressionism.
The fauvists were interested in the colour theory and particularly in complementary colours and using them together to enhance each other.
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ANDRE DERAIN
Derain and Matisse were predominantly responsible for the movement. After a summer together in the south of France, they invented a new style where they would use unnatural colours, often straight from the tube, and simplify the shapes down.
Derain was born in 1880 in Yvelines, France. He started his interest in art at age fifteen. I like Derain’s work because of the dramatic contrast his colour choices make and the flowing movement of his pieces. I have also noticed that he loosely sticks to the idea of cold colours at the back, you can see the blue skylines of the city.
I will now create paintings using this style and similar colour choices, making sure that I keep it loose with rough brushstrokes.
PHOTOSHOP RESPONSES
After looking at fauvism and the wild colours they use, I used photoshop to change the colours of one of my previous paintings. I was experimenting with how a place's perception alters and shifts when I change the colour but keep the shape and form the same. This exercise forced me to pay close attention to the way the original fauvist used colours, and this will help better prepare me for future experiments. It also shows how much of an effect colour has on the mood of the piece as it is definitely different.
media responses
Here I have created three media responses to Fauvism. When taking the photo, I considered clashing atmospheres, there is the serenity of the river on the right which contrasts the busy, widely used path.
For this first piece above, I used a more wild use of colour and rougher brushstrokes to represent the fauvist values.
The painting below was done in a more controlled manner, with stylized shapes like David Hockney.
Here I conducted a much larger piece and painted the different quarters in varying colours so that I could investigate the extent to which a location is portrayed by colour.
Additionally, I changed the style for the quarters. For the bottom right one, I used Hockney's more controlled style as I felt it better portrayed the calmness of the river.
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