Maurice de Vlaminck
French, 1876 - 1958Landscape with Church, n.d.
Not on view
Oil on canvas
Dimensions28 1/2 × 21 5/16 in. (72.4 × 54.1 cm)
Given to the FIA in loving memory of Mr. and Mrs. R. Spencer Bishop by their three children, Arthur William Bishop, Russell Spencer Bishop, Jr., and Betty Bishop Catto, 1972.69
Maurice de Vlaminck was born in Paris and raised in a bohemian household by his musician parents. His complex personality and restless nature resulted in the pursuit of all of his eclectic talents throughout his lifetime, including painting, cycling, writing, and creating music. In 1905, Vlaminck exhibited with several other artists at the Salon d’Automne, which ushered modern painting into the twentieth century. This group of painters was dubbed Les Fauves (French for “Wild Beasts”) due to their use of clashing colors, flat compositions, and distorted drawings.
Vlaminck’s color scheme was more intense than that of his contemporaries until 1908, when the Fauves began to disband. His colors then became more subdued, but his style of applying paint became much more expressionistic. Landscape with Church belongs to this post-Fauvist period. The distorted angle of the composition, combined with the somber tones of gray in the church and sky, add to the drama and emotionalism of the scene.
