It’s Day 73 and I enjoyed today’s painting more than I thought I would.  It’s my first impressionist/Fauvism painting I’ve done in a while.  I had a horrible day with Van Gogh (which I decided to move to another day) and today’s artist is similarly similar <- wrote that on purpose. 😉  Please join me in honoring Othon Friesz today!

Achille-Émile Othon Friesz, who later called himself just Othon Friesz (6 February 1879 – 10 January 1949), a native of Le Havre, was a French artist of the Fauvist movement.

Othon Friesz was born in Le Havre, the son of a long line of shipbuilders and sea

captains. He went to school in his native city. It was while he was at the Lycée that he met his lifelong friend Raoul Dufy. He and Dufy studied at the Le Havre School of Fine Arts in 1895-96 and then went to Paristogether for further study.

In Paris, Friesz met Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, and Georges Rouault. Like them, he rebelled against the academic teaching of Bonnat and became a member of the Fauves, exhibiting with them in 1907. The following year, Friesz returned to Normandy and to a much more traditional style of painting, since he had discovered that his personal goals in painting were firmly rooted in the past.

He opened his own studio in 1912 and taught until 1914 at which time he joined

the army for the duration of the war. He resumed living in Paris in 1919 and remained there, except for brief trips to Toulon and the Jura Mountains, until his death in 1949.

During the last thirty years of his life, he painted in a style completely removed from that of his earlier colleagues and his contemporaries. Having abandoned the lively arabesques and brilliant colors of his Fauve years, Friesz returned to the more sober palette he had learned in Le Havre from his professor Charles Lhuillier and to an early admiration for Poussin, Chardin, and Corot.

He painted in a manner that respected Cézanne’s ideas of logical composition,

simple tonality, solidity of volume, and distinct separation of planes. A faint baroque flavor adds vigor to his (most known for) landscapes, still lifes, and figure paintings.

Othon Friesz died in Paris. He is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.

Biography is from wikipedia.

It took me a lot longer to find a reference photo than I thought it would take.  I’m not sure why I was being so damn picky about the landscape photograph.  It was

so beautiful out today, that I thought for a second about going out and painting outdoors and staring at a real landscape, but I changed my mind…because of, let’s be honest…laziness.  I did just walk the dogs for an hour and a half up and down hills! 😉  Well, finally I found a nice mountain landscape and used that as my go to photo.  I think I should’ve went more strong with the colors since that’s one of the elements of Fauvism…well, I think I did okay.

This was a really nice painting to paint today.  I find it interesting that I am so intimidated by impressionist art.  I know Friesz’s work is Fauvist, but it also has an impressionist quality to it.  I still get mixed up with all these movements.  I felt the same about abstract expressionist art until I experienced a few paintings and then something clicked.  I’m still experimenting and learning with this challenge.  I’m curious to see how much impact this has on my usual style of painting.  All I know is that I’m having fun (and stressful days!).  I hope you enjoy my tribute for today and I’ll see you tomorrow on day 74…wowzers!  Best, Linda