Albert Marquet

Albert Marquet (27 March 1875, Bordeaux ? 13 June 1947, Paris) was a French painter, associated with the Fauvism current.

Related Topics:
27 March - 1875 - Bordeaux - 13 June - 1947 - Paris - Fauvism

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In 1890, he moved to Paris to follow the courses of the Decorative Arts School, where he had as a friend Henri Matisse with who he shared the house and they influenced reciprocally.

Related Topics:
1890 - Paris - Henri Matisse

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In 1895, Marquet studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and followed the courses of Gustave Moreau a decadent artist which was a follower of the Romantic tradition of Eugène Delacroix.

Related Topics:
1895 - Gustave Moreau - Eugène Delacroix

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In these years, Marquet had exhibited paintings at the Salon des Indépendants: he did not sold many paintings, but he made himself known in the artistic community of Paris. These early compositions of his were characterised by a clear and linear impressionism, in which he proved a good control of the drawing and a certain attention to the distribution of the light.

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In 1905 he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and his paintings were put together with those of Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, André Derain, Othon Friesz, Georges Rouault, Henri Charles Manguin, Louis Valtat and Jean Puy.

Related Topics:
1905 - Henri Matisse - Maurice de Vlaminck - André Derain - Othon Friesz - Georges Rouault - Henri Charles Manguin - Louis Valtat - Jean Puy

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These artists impressed the critics for their strong hues and their lights, enough to be named the "Fauves", i.e. savage beasts; in reality, although he was a friend with the group of the fauves and although he painted with them for years, Marquet used less bright and violent colours, exchanged for a systematic use of grays for making emerge his placid sensibility.

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At the end of 1907 he stayed at Paris and dedicated himself, together with Henri Matisse to a series of city views: the fundamental difference between the two is that while Henri Matisse used strong and lively colours, put on the canvas with decised paintbrush strokes, Marquet stumped the colours, making heavy use of grey and white; another difference is that Marquet, stayed faithful to the traditional perspective techniques.

Related Topics:
1907 - Henri Matisse

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From 1907 to his death, Marquet alternated between working in his studio in Paris and numerous voyages in Europe and in Northern Africa; in his voyages he mainly painted the sea and the ships, but also the lights and the animated life of the city.

Related Topics:
1907 - Northern Africa

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Marquet remained impressed in particularly of Napoli, of which he painted the sea and the boats: for the accentuation of the reflexes of the light over the water and render it with very good similarity, he adopted a technique similar to the one of the impressionists, applying in his paintings with single strokes and a contrast of the vivid colours and describing the foldings of the sea with simple drawings, almost rectangular, which give a scene of placid movement. The human figures were much simplified, created with a very syntetic drawing, similar to the ones seen in the Venitian paintings of the 1700s.

Related Topics:
Napoli - 1700s

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Another important half of his voyages was Germany: here too, his predilection was for river and sea views, ports and ships, but also to less degree for the city landscapes.

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Continuing to use the traditional techniques of perspective, the scene was fundamentally static and the movement of the ships was reduced to a minimum, the surroundings of the nets were evident to show the prevalence of the drawing over the colour, the shapes were simplified although in a way less drastic than the one characteristic to the cubism.

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In his long career Marquet often returned to the same subjects, even years later, with little differences in the shades: with the exception of a short period, between 1910 and 1914, in which he painted a series of nudes, he prefered landscapes, the sea, the river views and the port scenes, which had a great commercial success in France as well as outside.

Related Topics:
1910 - 1914

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In the period that followed WWI, he painted works of realistic intonation, always based keeping on traditional style which refuses the great technical and stylistic revolutions of the avanguard of the time.

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Marquet died in Paris, on 13 June 1947.

Related Topics:
Paris - 13 June - 1947

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