The head of Derain, shown life-size and in extreme close-up, is more vivid than any photograph could be. There is no indication of surrounding space. Vlaminck boldly outlined in black the contours of the head, hair, shoulders, and collar. Then he painted the face red, highlighting rather than modeling the facial features with strokes of vivid chrome yellow and a daring patch of green on the nose. Both eyes have blue lids, and the blue moustache spirals out to the left. Derain kept this portrait until his death in 1954.
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Artwork Details
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Title:André Derain
Artist:Maurice de Vlaminck (French, Paris 1876–1958 Reuil-La-Gadelière)
Date:1906
Medium:Oil on paperboard
Dimensions:10 5/8 × 9 3/4 in.
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998
André Derain, Paris (about 1906–d. 1954; acquired from the artist; his estate sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, March 22, 1955, no. 21); private collection, France (about 1955–59); [Sam Salz, New York, 1959; sold on December 8, 1959, for $14,000, to Gelman]; Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1959–his d. 1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA)
Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. "L'oeuvre gravé de Derain," 1955, no. 144 (as "Portrait de Derain," ca. 1905, lent by a private collection).
New York. Leonard Hutton Galleries. "Der Blaue Reiter," February 19–March 30, 1963, no. 60 (as "Portrait of Derain," 1905, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Gelman, Mexico).
New York. Leonard Hutton Galleries. "Fauves and Expressionists," April 18–June 12, 1968, no. 118 (as "Portrait of Derain," 1905, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Gelman, Mexico City).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "The 'Wild Beasts': Fauvism and Its Affinities," March 26–June 1, 1976, unnumbered cat. (p. 48; as "Portrait of Derain," 1905, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Gelman, Mexico City).
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The 'Wild Beasts': Fauvism and Its Affinities," June 29–August 15, 1976, unnumbered cat.
Fort Worth. Kimbell Art Museum. "The 'Wild Beasts': Fauvism and Its Affinities," September 11–October 31, 1976, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," December 12, 1989–April 1, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 79).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," April 19–July 15, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "De Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," June 18–November 1, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 103).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 63).
Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Fundación "La Caixa". "The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso," February 6–May 20, 2007, no. 28.
Fort Worth. Kimbell Art Museum. "The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso," June 17–September 16, 2007, no. 28.
Essen. Museum Folkwang. "Im Farbenrausch: Munch, Matisse und die Expressionisten," September 29, 2012–January 13, 2013, no. 150 (as "Porträt von André Derain").
Vienna. Albertina. "Matisse and the Fauves," September 20, 2013–January 12, 2014, no. 40.
Kunstmuseum Basel. "Matisse, Derain, and Their Friends: The Parisian Avantgarde 1904–1908," September 2, 2023–January 21, 2024, unnumbered cat. (p. 132).
Georges Duthuit. The Fauvist Painters. New York, 1950, pl. 23.
Florent Fels. L'Art vivant de 1900 à nos jours. Geneva, 1950, ill. p. 176.
Aline B. Louchheim. "From 'Wild Beasts' to Old Masters." New York Times (October 5, 1952), ill. p. 28.
Bernard Dorival. "Fauves: The Wild Beasts Tamed." Art News Annual 51, no. 7 (1953), ill. p. 119.
Blanca Stabile. "André Derain." Ver y estimar no. 2 (December 1954), ill. p. 3.
"André Derain." Connaissance des arts 35 (January 15, 1955), pp. 16–17, ill. (color), dates it 1905.
Gérald Schurr. "Succès de l'art nègre dans la vente Derain." Arts, spectacles no. 507 (March 16–22, 1955), p. 13, ill.
Maurice Vlaminck. "Avec Derain, nous avons crée le Fauvisme." Le Jardin des arts no. 8 (June 1955), p. 473, ill., dates it 1905.
Marcel Sauvage. Vlaminck: Sa vie et son message. Geneva, 1956, p. 111, colorpl. 46, dates it 1905.
R[aymonde]. Wilhelem. "En 1955, dans les ventes publiques: Spéculation sur les tableaux modernes et les meubles du XVIIIe siècle." Arts, spectacles no. 550 (January 11–17, 1956), p. 13, ill., states that this picture was "adjugée à la Galerie Charpentier, 3,700,000 fr".
Georges Hilaire. Derain. Geneva, 1959, unpaginated, ill. (color).
Jean Leymarie. Fauvism. [Lausanne], 1959, ill. p. 51 (color) [Enl. ed., 1995], dates it 1905 and locates it in a private collection, France.
Jean Selz. Vlaminck. New York, [1965], ill. p. 19 (color), dates it 1905 and erroneously locates it in a private collection, Paris.
Joseph-Emile Muller. Fauvism. New York, 1967, colorpl. 59, dates it 1905.
Harris Rosenstein. "French Beasts and Tormented Teutons." Art News 67 (May 1968), ill. p. 47.
Maurice Genevoix. "Mon ami Vlaminck." Jardin des arts no. 167 (October 1968), ill. p. 36 (color), calls it a self-portrait.
Georges Boudaille. Vlaminck. Paris, 1968, unpaginated, colorpl. IV, dates it 1905.
John Russell. The World of Matisse. New York, 1969, p. 63, ill.
Sherman E. Lee. "The Water and the Moon in Chinese and Modern Painting." Art International 14/1 (January 20, 1970), p. 53, fig. 16.
Alfred Werner. Maurice Vlaminck. 2nd ed. [1st ed., 1959]. New York, [1971], pp. 14–15, ill. (color), dates it 1905.
Jean-Luc Daval. Journal de l'art moderne, 1884–1914: texte, notices explicatives, déroulement synoptique à travers le témoignage des contemporains. Geneva, 1973, ill. p. 185 (color), dates it 1905; erroneously locates it still in a private collection, France.
Jürgen Schultze inAlexej Jawlensky 1864–1941. Ed. Armin Zweite. Exh. cat., Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus. Munich, 1983, p. 77, fig. 8, dates it 1905.
Maïthé Vallès-Bled. Vlaminck: Il pittore e la critica. Exh. cat., Centro Saint-Bénin, Aosta. Milan, 1988, p. 76, ill. p. 59, dates it 1905.
Pierre Schneider inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 27, states that Jacques Gelman removed this picture from the wall of Sam Salz's bedroom after the dealer refused to sell it.
Sabine Rewald inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, pp. 78–80, 316, ill. (color and bw), doubts the usual 1905 dating of this picture, noting that Derain's 1905 portrait of Vlaminck is more subdued in color and that "it seems doubtful... that in 1905 Vlaminck would have responded with a portrait that was more daring in color than Derain's"; dates it after the Salon des Indépendants of 1906; notes its similarity to van Gogh's self-portrait "The Painter with a Pipe," which Vlaminck saw in 1905.
Sarah Whitfield. Fauvism. London, 1991, p. 84, fig. 61 (color).
Niamh O'Laoghaire. "The Influence of Van Gogh on Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck, 1898–1908." PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1992, pp. 360–61, pl. 208, dates it 1905.
Judi Freeman inAndré Derain: Le peintre du "trouble moderne". Exh. cat., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1994, pp. 60–61, ill., dates it 1905 in the text and 1906 in the caption.
Jean-Louis Ferrier. The Fauves: The Reign of Color. Paris, 1995, p. 90, ill. p. 63 (color), dates it 1905.
Bernard Zürcher. Les Fauves. Paris, 1995, ill. p. 81 (color).
Judith H. Dobrzynski. "20th Century Art Treasures Are Left to Met." New York Times (May 6, 1998), p. B6.
William S. Lieberman. "Donation Gelman: l'École de Paris au Metropolitan." Connaissance des arts no. 554 (October 1998), p. 105, fig. 1 (color).
Andrew Decker. "Metropolitan: Une Exceptionnelle donation." Beaux Arts no. 170 (July 1998), p. 24.
Christopher Green. Art in France 1900–1940. New Haven, 2000, p. 17, fig. 20, dates it 1905.
Joseph J. Rishel with Katherine Sachs inVan Gogh Face to Face: The Portraits. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 2000, p. 230, fig. 202 (color), date it 1905.
Jacqueline Munck inDerain et Vlaminck, 1900–1915. Exh. cat., Musée de Lodève. Milan, 2001, pp. 19, 84, ill. p. 34.
Roberta Smith. "In a Brash Yet Refined School, Everyone Belongs Together." New York Times (June 15, 2001), p. E37.
John Klein inMatisse-Derain: Collioure 1905, un été fauve. Exh. cat., Musée départemental d'Art moderne, Céret. [Paris], 2005, p. 51, fig. 37 (color), dates it to the beginning of 1905 when Derain and Vlaminck worked together in Chatou; characterizes this picture and Derain's portrait of Vlaminck (private collection, on loan to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Chartres) as lighthearted, slightly mocking caricatures.
Claude Jeancolas. L'Art fauve. Paris, 2006, pp. 14–15, ill. (color), dates it 1905.
Jean Laude. La Peinture française et "l'art nègre" (1905–1914): Contribution à l'étude des sources du fauvisme et du cubisme. Ed. Jean-Louis Paudrat. Paris, 2006, pp. 139–40.
Paloma Alarcó inThe Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2007, pp. 90–91, 325, no. 28, ill. pp. 88, 96 (color, detail and overall), interprets the green paintstroke down the sitter's nose as a reference to Matisse's "Madame Matisse (The Green Line)" (1905; Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen).
Maïthé Vallès-Bled. Vlaminck: Catalogue critique des peintures et céramiques de la période fauve. Critical Catalogue of Fauve Paintings and Ceramics. Paris, 2008, pp. 212–15, 563, 574–79, 581–82, no. 85, ill. (color), dates it 1905, noting that Vlaminck and Derain exchanged portraits of each other that year and kept them throughout their lifetimes; observes that other Vlaminck portraits of 1905 display the same heavy black outline and solid blocks of color.
Jacqueline Munck inVlaminck. Un instinct fauve. Exh. cat., Musée du Luxembourg, Paris. [Milan], 2008, ill. p. 45 (color), dates it 1905.
Asja Kaspers inIm Farbenrausch: Munch, Matisse und die Expressionisten. Ed. Mario-Andreas von Lüttichau and Ulrike Hofer. Exh. cat., Museum Folkwang. Essen, 2012, pp. 252, 297, no. 150, ill. p. 263 (color).
Heinz Widauer inMatisse and the Fauves. Ed. Heinz Widauer and Claudine Grammont. Exh. cat., Albertina, Vienna. Cologne, 2013, pp. 83–84, 324, no. 40, ill. p. 87 (color).
Maurice de Vlaminck (French, Paris 1876–1958 Reuil-La-Gadelière)
1927
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