Breaking the Artists’ Mould: Essay 2019

Breaking the Artists’ Mould What happens when artists break the Order of Things?

Every historical period is characterised by a

shifts of landscape art from the past 200 years:

fundamental paradigm, or episteme, and every

Firstly, by focusing on the works of Romanticist

historical movement either begins with or

artist J.M.W. Turner, and secondly by linking

brings about one or several paradigm shifts. In

this to the works and ethos of Fauvist artist

art especially, these paradigm shifts are visible

André Derain. In my analysis I will be referring

in how representation of a subject or a context

to several of their respective artworks, as well as

can change over time, often with just one

referring to artworks from their contemporaries

person or a select group of people kindling

and their forerunners The methods used by

these shifts in perception and representation.

these artists in their paintings demonstrates the ways in which they broke the Order of Things

Many critics and historians attempt to contextualise these paradigm shifts by searching along a timeline for their

that had come before them, shaping art and representation and the way we as viewers perceive it, for ever.

fundamental cause or starting point. However, linearity is far from the only way of exploring

My starting point when considering this was

this, and in fact only started being the more

Foucault’s own analysis of Las Meninas

common method in the late 19th century/after

(published as a preface to The Order of Things),

the 19th century.

a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez of the Royal family of Philip IV of Spain, and one of the most analysed paintings of Western art history. Foucault’s study illustrates how

By following on from the theories of French Post-Structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault, specifically those explored in his 1966 book Les

Mots Et Les Choses: Une Archéologie des Sciences Humaines (translated into English as “The Order of Things”, 1970) , this essay aims to examine two of the most powerful paradigm

Velázquez’s painting came to be at a time when visual representation was drastically altering in the Western art world from depicting resemblances to curating representation. As stated by Foucault (1966, pp. 3-18) Velázquez manages to capture this moment of change in his painting, where he re-creates the order of

representation into something unique to him, a

time, often added extracts of poetry to the titles

form of representation and self-referential

of his paintings when on exhibition.

“meta” that had perhaps never been experienced before. After this epoch, representation was no longer dependent on the late-mediaeval system of resemblances,

According to Olivier Meslay (2005, p. 19), Turner was unusual in his complete pursuit of Topographical Landscape art as a subject – a genre which emphasised faithfulness to subject matter, and painterly precision in artworks. In Turner’s time, this was increasingly popular with British artists, eager to depict the memory of a place, preserving it in time.

Much of Turner’s revolutionary artistry was only Fig. 1 Lorrain, C., 1648. The Embarkation of the Queen of

Sheba [Oil on canvas]

made possible by advancements in technology for painting. Meslay (2005) details how the advent of ready-mixed paint and portable

with images gradually becoming more and

watercolours revolutionised art from the late

more independent of their subject. This

18th Century onwards. In this era, watercolour

increasingly independent representation is how

was regarded more as a sketch medium rather

Turner’s work differentiates itself from his

than a technique to be used for fully-finished

contemporaries’, and what set landscape art on

canvases, but Turner was one of the first artists

the course that led to Derain and his Fauvism.

Despite his curation of a unique style over his lifetime, Turner took a lot of precedent from those who had come before him: particularly the Old Masters such as Claude Lorrain (Figure 1), his older contemporaries such as William Gilpin, and the architect Thomas Hardwick. He took an intellectual approach to the arts

Fig. 2 Turner, J.M.W. 1841. The Dawn After the Wreck

(Meslay, O. 2005) and, as was popular in his

[Watercolour on canvas]

to embrace this new way of painting,

every year of his life from 1793 onwards, filling

dedicating as much care and effort to his

countless sketches (and misplacing many more

watercolour canvases as to his oil paintings

– he was notorious for his travelling

(Meslay, 2005). The transparent quality of

misadventures). He was enraptured by Venice

watercolours was something Turner used to a

(Meslay, 2005), which was a relatively up-and-

great extent, refining his work with multiple

coming tourist destination, filling sketchbooks

layers to create luminosity that had only been

and painting many canvases of the Venetian

found in oil paintings before (Bockemühl, 1991).

lagoon. (Figure. 3)

His watercolours depict fleeting impressions of views, with a lot of focus on the qualities of light in each scene. (Figure 2)

By the time of Derain and his Fauvist contemporaries, travel for pleasure was a rapidly growing industry, with most Fauves

Technological advancements were also being

travelling extensively to European cities to

made in travel, which meant a journey across

document life through the eyes of the foreign

the English Channel in Turner’s later years

tourist. Their works aimed to capture aspects of

would take hours rather than days, which artists

modern life in Western society, drawing on

continued to exploit as time progressed and

their predecessors’ Romantic views of the same

travel became ever more popular. Turner

scenes.

travelled extensively in Britain, covering much of the Midlands and the South East over his lifetime, with a few forays into Europe to visit Rome, Venice and the Alps. He travelled almost

The Fauves’ first major foray into exhibiting was in 1905, and the reaction from the public and from critics aided in their continuing quest for colourful innovation. “Donatello chez les Fauves” quipped French art critic Louis Vauxcelles in 1905 (Herbert, 1992), upon seeing a room full of vividly-coloured paintings juxtaposed by Italianate sculptures at the Salon d’Automne of that year. Opinion is divided on whether Vauxcelles’ statement was derogatory or in fact in praise of this new art style. To

Fig. 3 Turner, J.M.W. 1835. Venice, From the Porch of

some, it pits classical tradition against avant-

Madonna della Salute [Oil on canvas]

garde audacity, however to others Fauvism was

the reconciliation of classical heritage and modern painting (Freeman, 1990). The 1905 Salon d’Automne was for the most part widely acclaimed by the press, although there were some critics who reacted negatively at the rise of this new, wilder, avant-garde (Clement, 1994).

André Derain actively sought out artistic innovation throughout his career (Freeman, 1990). He and fellow Fauve artist Henri Matisse were aiming to arrive at a form of painting that transcended beyond the styles of their predecessors. This led to Derain’s almost complete abstraction in terms of colour use, clearly demonstrated in many of his London canvases, but particularly in Effets de Soleil sur

la Tamise (1906) (Figure. 4) which sought to paraphrase the gentle, almost mystic tonality of Monet’s 1874 Impression, Soleil Levant (Figure.

5). Monet primarily used greys and blues for

Fig. 5 Monet, C., 1874 Impression : Soleil Levant [Oil on canvas]

this painting, offsetting the scene with a red sun that dominates the canvas. In stark contrast, Derain used primary colours, often straight from the paint tube (Freeman, 1990) to create an almost totally abstracted view of the river Thames. Derain worked quickly, generally painting en plein air, unlike Monet who would work from inside his hotel room and would rework his paintings over a far longer period of time. (Herbert, 1992)

Art historians have a tendency to categorise artistic movements, which can lead to these movements being considered as separate entities to their context and their influencers, however nothing is fundamentally disconnected from its wider context: every concept has a starting point, a precursor, or a fundamental question at its core, and these in turn connect it Fig. 4 Derain, A., 1906 Effets de Soleil sur la Tamise [Oil on canvas]

to numerous other concepts in an everevolving web of thought. Equally, the interpretations of these concepts are constantly

evolving; for example, the meaning behind a

artistic movements often seems to be

painting when it is first exhibited can

overlooked in favour of exploring the specifics

completely shift tonally or conceptually as time

within movements. Foucault (1966, pp. 37-38)

progresses and new eyes see it for the first

argues against the use of categories and

time, armed with new knowledge and ideas. It

groupings when analysing; everything is

is easier to consider something within its own

inherently connected, therefore grouping

context, and so the nuances between eras

things makes them lose their original

become lost in time as they become

authenticity, and these innate connections are

increasingly compartmentalised.

something I would like to explore and develop in my analysis.

It is interesting to note that Impressionism and Fauvism are considered completely separate in terms of their time in the artistic spotlight, but there was in fact a fair amount of overlap between the two styles. Derain was greatly influenced by Monet, holding the elder artist in high esteem, writing "In spite of everything, I adore him… even his mistakes teach me valuable lessons." (Druick et al., 2008). In addition, many of the works by J.M.W. Turner

Fig. 6. Turner, J.M.W. 1827 Mortlake Terrace [Oil on

demonstrate what could be referred to as pre-

canvas]

Impressionist tendencies, as noted by Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren in 1885: "The process lately used by the French impressionists [...] the juxtaposition of simple tones that produces at a distance, vibrations of an amazing intensity, can be found in embryonic form in Turner's work."

(Meslay, 2005, from Verhaeren, 1885). By contrasting how this exploration of light and colour came to influence Turner and Derain, this may provide new links between artworks that to the casual eye create such irreconcilable visual experiences. This continuity between

The concept of the ‘Classic’ in terms of art is in a constant state of flux – in Turner’s lifetime (1775-1851), this was completely different to Derain’s (1880-1954). While Turner enjoyed prosperity for his work practically from the onset of his career, he was also met with criticisms for his abstraction, often criticised and sometimes satirised by his penchant for yellow on his canvases. The use of colour to denote light is something Turner picked up from Claude Lorrain, and makes for incredibly

striking canvases, using opposing colours to

since the 16th Century. His artworks started as

recreate scenes in ways that had never been

snapshots into scenes, like many other artists of

seen before. Nowadays, he is seen as the

his time and previous, and because of his

quintessential British artist, and one can hardly

constant experiments with colour and with new

imagine art history without his influence.

mediums over his lifetime developed a new

Turner’s classical and architectural training

way of representing the world around him.

allowed him to play with perspectives in new ways, which arguably paved the way for later artists to eschew perspectives and create more abstracted works. This is most striking in

Mortlake Terrace (Fig. 6.) – the yellow almost dominates the canvas, and the oblique perspective both demonstrates his influence from Claude and how he later came to influence Fauvist landscapes’ flattened perspectives - as seen in Figure 7, where Derain’s high vantage point creates a skewed perspective as the eye is drawn to the left of the canvas, mirroring how Mortlake Terrace draws the eye to the right. Despite not considering himself a radical artistic innovator (Bockemühl, M., 1991) Turner was the key artist who broke the mould shaping representation

Impressionists were the innovators barely 10 years after Turner’s death, yet by the time Derain’s career was in full swing, not 40 years later, many of the Impressionists were included among the pantheon of the Grand Masters of the past. During the time of the Fauves, Classical painting was rooted in themes of French nationalism, with the political right having claimed the Classics as representational of their ideals (Herbert, 1992). Impressionism had been similarly adopted by those of the centre-left Republic supporters, which made Fauvism’s intent on simultaneously calling back to and reinventing their artistic lineage an effectively political act, and as painting shaped politics, so too politics shaped painting. Herbert (1992, p. 11) states that Fauvism “did not find politics, it made them”, manipulating and combining both republicanism and nationalism in a way that no-one had attempted before. To the modern viewer, this political undertone is far less perceptible than in the early 20th century, because politics and the public’s view of politics has changed.

Fig. 7 Derain, A., 1906 Pont de Charing Cross [Oil on canvas]

Fauves were intentionally divisive in their

In conclusion, Turner’s artistic innovations were

approach to artistic reinvention, creating

not simply brought about because of being

paradoxes between their act of renewal and

innately Turner – factors such as expanding

their chosen technique of naïveté. As with

horizons, new technologies in representation

Turner, Derain took precedent from many

and classical training meeting scrutinising

diverse predecessors, notably relying on Paul

analysis all contributed to a slowly blossoming

Gauguin’s technique, as well as working closely

form of representation. This representation was

with Matisse to establish their own form of

continued by the Impressionists, whose

painting. There is only so much naïveté that can

depiction of atmosphere rather than pictorial

be attributed to an artist who is aware of how

representation was then taken up by the

much they take precedent from the artists

Fauvists. This is a strictly linear way of

around them.

approaching the progression of modern art, but laterally speaking, these eras were all

While Turner used his success as a landscape artist to continually push the boundaries of representation and create more abstracted impressions of the world around him, Derain actually did the opposite: leaving behind his Fauvist years and progressing to more austere, Classicism-inspired works, in rejection of the pre-War extreme avant-garde. Given the postWorld War 1 context in which he was now working, this reaction was common amongst previously more avant-garde artists, and Fauvism itself was a supernova of an art movement: short-lived but nonetheless highly impactful. Perhaps this supernova effect is why so much of modern art can still trace its roots back to this overturning of traditional representation.

connected by the same factors that were the catalyst for Turner in the 18th and 19th Century.

When considering lateral connections, expressing emotion through colour may be the element that connects Turner and Derain.

Turner broke the metaphorical mould constraining artists to direct representation, and Derain and his Fauvist contemporaries broke it further in their attempts to view the world in a different way – photography was by then creating the pictorial representations, and so Fauvism sought to do what photography could not – depict the emotions of a place. Critics may call Derain’s work harsh, or unrealistic, or not treat it with the same nuances that they might Turner, but both artists depict place and space in an almost synesthetic way, by drawing on the emotional responses of the observer and playing with them.

Art is constantly changing in response to the

artists made permanent marks on the canvas of

influences of the world around it. This is

artistic representation, that has continued to

exemplified in a choice few artists who defy the

shape how artists, critics and historians view the

conventions of categorisation, by either

world even today.

creating brand-new labels for themselves (as in the case of AndrĂŠ Derain) or shedding labels entirely in their pursuit of representing the unknown (as with J.M.W. Turner). Both of these

Fig. 8. Turner, J.M.W. 1834 The Burning of the Houses of

Parliament [Oil on canvas]

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Figure 1 : Lorrain, C., 1648. The Embarkation of

Figure 2 : Turner, J.M.W. 1841. The Dawn After

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