Maurice de Vlaminck
Racing cyclist and violinist who painted with paint straight from the tube and never took a lesson.
Maurice de Vlaminck was born in Paris in 1876, earned his living as a racing cyclist and a violinist, and was proud of never having set foot in the Louvre for instruction. He shared a studio at Chatou with Derain, saw the Van Gogh retrospective of 1901, and painted the most violent of all the Fauve pictures — pure vermilion and cobalt squeezed straight from the tube. He was among the first Europeans to collect African masks. After 1908 he moved towards Cezanne and then to the dark, heavy, snow-laden village landscapes that occupied the rest of his career. He died in 1958.
The Fauve years of 1904 to 1907 are a small group and are far ahead of everything else; the later landscapes are a very large field and are valued quite differently. Vlaminck is heavily forged, particularly in the later manner, which is easier to imitate, and expert opinion is normally required. His participation in the Nazi-organised artists' tour of Germany in 1941 is part of the record. He also made woodcuts and lithographs, and produced ceramics and illustrated books.
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