Kees van Dongen was born on January 1, 1877, in Delfshaven near Rotterdam. Early in his artistic endevours, he was inspired by the Impressionists and influenced by their style. Van Dongen studied at the academy of Rotterdam but did not finish his studies there.
He earned his livelihood working for the magazines "Groene" and "Rotterdam Neusblad." His racy drawings of life around the habor were published with great scandal. In 1897, he went to Paris, where he lived in Bateau-Lavoir. There he worked as an illustrator for "Revoue Blanche" and "L'assiette au Beurre." In 1903, van Dongen exhibited his works publicly for the first time, and later he showed with Matisse in the Vollard Gallery. The Dutch painter became associated with the group "Fauves" (wild beasts) in 1905.
Nonetheless, his affinity for the German Expressionists can be recognized in his works. Indicative of his work is the intense use of color, which increased the expressiveness of his paintings. In 1908, he became a member of the group of German Expressionists "Die Brücke" (the Bridge) and exhibited with them. At the end of World War I, van Dongen was discovered by the upperclass. He then painted many portraits, becoming a chronicler of the 1920's and 1930's. His expressive portraits, likenesses, and landscapes received much appreciation and achieved success through his unique coloring.
Britannica doesn't usually just copy from Wikipedia so they are our source for a different date:
Kees van Dongen, in full Cornelis Theodorus Marie van Dongen (born Jan. 26, 1877, Delfshaven, Neth.—died May 28, 1968, Monte Carlo, Monaco), Dutch-born French painter and printmaker who was one of the leading Fauvists and was particularly renowned for his stylized, sensuously rendered portraits of women.
Van Dongen had artistic leanings early in his youth. He attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, Neth., and he moved to Paris at age 20. In the bohemian atmosphere of the Montmartre district, he worked as a house painter, an illustrator for satirical papers, and a café artist.
Van Dongen initially worked in an Impressionist manner, but in the early 1900s his colours became more vivid and concentrated. Having made the acquaintance of Henri Matisse, van Dongen participated in the famous Salon d’Automne of 1905, at which the Fauve (“Wild Beast”) group was given its epithet due to the artists’ aggressive, emotive brushwork and pure, unblended colours. His reputation grew when he was contracted by Pablo Picasso’s dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler in 1907. Van Dongen exhibited with the German Expressionist group Die Brücke (“The Bridge”) in 1908, but he remained committed to Fauvism.
Van Dongen’s candid, colourful portrait style was immensely fashionable by the end of World War I, and thereafter it remained his main focus. The figure of a glamorous woman with large eyes and red lips became his archetype. His portrait of the writer Anatole France (1917) is particularly notable. In addition to portrait paintings, van Dongen also produced lithographs and painted richly coloured seascapes and scenes of Paris in an assured, economical style.
More details from elsewhere:
In March 1918, the young art dealer, Paul Guillaume (1891-1934), organised an exhibition of twenty-five recent paintings by Van Dongen. The event was announced by the poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), who was a close friend of Paul Guillaume but who died at the end of that year.
After the First World War, Kees Van Dongen became the emblematic portrait artist of Parisian society in the 1920s, a period that marked the height of his career and brought him wealth and fame. Awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1922, he finally obtained French nationality in 1928.
Here is why we take some time with his biographical details: "Woman with Cat" (1908).
In 1959 Kees Van Dongen moved to Monaco, where he spent his last years.
No comments:
Post a Comment