Henri Le Fauconnier
Hesdin, Francia, 1881 - Parigi, 1946
In 1911 he contributed to the scandal caused by Cubist works at the Salon des Indépendants together with Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Fernand Léger and Robert Delaunay. He exhibited the painting "The abundance" (1910), in which he expressed his desire to reconcile the depiction of the nude with Cubist aesthetics.
After studying law in his native city, in 1901 he moved to Paris where he attended the Atelier of Jean-Paul Laurens and then entered, in 1905, the Académie Julian with Segonzac, Louis-Albert Moreau, Boussingault and La Fresnaye. In 1904 he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendents and in 1905 at the Salon d'Automne with Nabis and Fauves, but he did not officially join the groups. He greatly admired Matisse’s painting, of which he practised similar coloristic boldness.
Between 1905 and 1909 he was in Brittany, in the region of Ploumanach', where he found a personal style painting sober rocky landscapes (from the harmonies of colors with low tones) and villagers in local customs. These works form the link between Nabis and Fauves painting; the construction of the structure, solidly treated starting from a geometric analysis of the volumes, soon destined him to become one of the members of the Cubist group in formation.
In 1909 he joined with Gleizes, Delaunay, Metzinger, Léger and the Italian Futurists and his Portrait of the poet Pierre-Jean Jouve (Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre G. Pompidou, Paris), exhibited at the Salon d'Automne of 1909, causes a shock to the arabesque architecture and the simple volume. In the same period he frequented the writers of the group "de l'Abbaye", of which Jules Romain and Georges Duhamel were the intelligentsia.
In Paris he introduces himself to the literary and artistic environment that revolves around the figure of Paul Fort, at the literary café "La Closerie des Lilas". In 1910 he participated, as a representative of the French Cubists, in the second exhibition of the Nouvelle Association des Artistes de Munich founded in 1909 by Kandinsky and published a theoretical text in the exhibition catalogue. He also exhibited repeatedly in Russia: in Moscow at the Toison d'Or (1909), from Valet de Carreau (1909 1910, 1914), at the Exhibition of Contemporary French Painting (1928), in Kiev and in Odessa (1909, 1910).
In 1911 he contributed to the scandal caused by Cubist works at the Salon des Indépendants together with Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Fernand Léger and Robert Delaunay. He exhibited the painting "The Abundance" (1910), in which he expressed his desire to reconcile the depiction of the nude with Cubist aesthetics.
In 1912 he took the place of Jacques-Emile Blanche as director of the Académie de la Palette in Paris; his pupils included Chagall and Gromaire.
In 1913 he left Cubism to approach an expressionist humanism. Before the war he left for Holland, where he lived until 1920. In Amsterdam he taught at an art school and in 1916 he started the group "Signal", composed of Belgian artists and writers. He also taught in Antwerp with De Smet and Van der Berghe, contributing to the Flemish Expressionism the weight of Cubist construction.
Returning to France, he gradually abandoned the expressionist way, achieving a severe realism in still lifes of flowers, nudes and interior scenes; in 1923 he participated in the Second Roman Biennale.
Museums:
Paris (Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou); Beuvais (Musée du Departement de l'Oise); Brest (Musée des Beaux-Arts); Cannes; Lyon (Musée des Beaux-Arts); Lille (Musée des Beaux Arts)
Moscow; Saint Petersburg (Hermitage)
Vienna (Albertina Museum)
Stockholm, Sweden
Zagreb, Croatia
Bergen (Museum Kranenburgh) - Norway
New York (Moma); Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design
Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum), La Haye
Brussels - Belgium
Bibliography:
Seconda Biennale romana, Mostra internazionale di belle arti Roma, MCMXXIII, Roma, Casa Editrice d’Arte Enzo Pinci, 1923;
Le Fauçonnier, l’art et la vie, introduction de Jules Romains, Paris, Marcel Seheur Editeur, 1927 ; R. Nacenta, La Scuola di Parigi, Istituto Geografico de Agostini – Novara, 1960; G. Schurr, P. Cabanne, Dictionnaire des Petits Maitres de la peinture, 1820-1920, Paris, Les éditions de l’amateur, 1996 ; Le fauvisme ou “l’epreuve du feu” (Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 29.10.1999-27.2.2000), Paris Musée, 1999; Da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso, Verso l’arte moderna, a cura di S. Lemoine, Bompiani, 2002.
Between 1905 and 1909 he was in Brittany, in the region of Ploumanach', where he found a personal style painting sober rocky landscapes (from the harmonies of colors with low tones) and villagers in local customs. These works form the link between Nabis and Fauves painting; the construction of the structure, solidly treated starting from a geometric analysis of the volumes, soon destined him to become one of the members of the Cubist group in formation.
In 1909 he joined with Gleizes, Delaunay, Metzinger, Léger and the Italian Futurists and his Portrait of the poet Pierre-Jean Jouve (Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre G. Pompidou, Paris), exhibited at the Salon d'Automne of 1909, causes a shock to the arabesque architecture and the simple volume. In the same period he frequented the writers of the group "de l'Abbaye", of which Jules Romain and Georges Duhamel were the intelligentsia.
In Paris he introduces himself to the literary and artistic environment that revolves around the figure of Paul Fort, at the literary café "La Closerie des Lilas". In 1910 he participated, as a representative of the French Cubists, in the second exhibition of the Nouvelle Association des Artistes de Munich founded in 1909 by Kandinsky and published a theoretical text in the exhibition catalogue. He also exhibited repeatedly in Russia: in Moscow at the Toison d'Or (1909), from Valet de Carreau (1909 1910, 1914), at the Exhibition of Contemporary French Painting (1928), in Kiev and in Odessa (1909, 1910).
In 1911 he contributed to the scandal caused by Cubist works at the Salon des Indépendants together with Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Fernand Léger and Robert Delaunay. He exhibited the painting "The Abundance" (1910), in which he expressed his desire to reconcile the depiction of the nude with Cubist aesthetics.
In 1912 he took the place of Jacques-Emile Blanche as director of the Académie de la Palette in Paris; his pupils included Chagall and Gromaire.
In 1913 he left Cubism to approach an expressionist humanism. Before the war he left for Holland, where he lived until 1920. In Amsterdam he taught at an art school and in 1916 he started the group "Signal", composed of Belgian artists and writers. He also taught in Antwerp with De Smet and Van der Berghe, contributing to the Flemish Expressionism the weight of Cubist construction.
Returning to France, he gradually abandoned the expressionist way, achieving a severe realism in still lifes of flowers, nudes and interior scenes; in 1923 he participated in the Second Roman Biennale.
Museums:
Paris (Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou); Beuvais (Musée du Departement de l'Oise); Brest (Musée des Beaux-Arts); Cannes; Lyon (Musée des Beaux-Arts); Lille (Musée des Beaux Arts)
Moscow; Saint Petersburg (Hermitage)
Vienna (Albertina Museum)
Stockholm, Sweden
Zagreb, Croatia
Bergen (Museum Kranenburgh) - Norway
New York (Moma); Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design
Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum), La Haye
Brussels - Belgium
Bibliography:
Seconda Biennale romana, Mostra internazionale di belle arti Roma, MCMXXIII, Roma, Casa Editrice d’Arte Enzo Pinci, 1923;
Le Fauçonnier, l’art et la vie, introduction de Jules Romains, Paris, Marcel Seheur Editeur, 1927 ; R. Nacenta, La Scuola di Parigi, Istituto Geografico de Agostini – Novara, 1960; G. Schurr, P. Cabanne, Dictionnaire des Petits Maitres de la peinture, 1820-1920, Paris, Les éditions de l’amateur, 1996 ; Le fauvisme ou “l’epreuve du feu” (Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 29.10.1999-27.2.2000), Paris Musée, 1999; Da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso, Verso l’arte moderna, a cura di S. Lemoine, Bompiani, 2002.
