Roger de La Fresnaye (; 11 July 1885 – 27 November 1925) was a French

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

painter.

Early years and education

La Fresnaye was born in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed. The La Fresnayes were an

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

family whose ancestral home, the Château de La Fresnaye, is in

Falaise Falaise may refer to: Places * Falaise, Ardennes, France * Falaise, Calvados, France ** The Falaise pocket was the site of a battle in the Second World War * La Falaise, in the Yvelines ''département'', France * The Falaise escarpment in Quebe ...

. His education was classically based, and was followed from 1903 to 1904 by studies at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

in Paris, and from 1904 to 1908 at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. From 1908 he studied at the

Académie Ranson The Académie Ranson was founded in Paris by the French painter Paul Ranson (1862–1909), who himself studied at the Académie Julian, in 1908.

under

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with '' Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...

and

Paul Sérusier Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism. Education Sérusier was born in Paris. He studied a ...

, whose joint influence is evident in early works such as ''Woman with Chrysanthemums'', 1909. This demonstrates the dreamlike

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

ambience and stylistic character of work by the

Les Nabis Les Nabis (French: les nabis, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of m ...

group. In 1909, Fresnaye travelled to Munich, where he encountered the German Expressionists, and then, in 1911, to northern Italy where he began to introduce more cuboid and abstract elements into his own painting.

Career

From 1912 to 1914 La Fresnaye was a member of the

Section d'Or The Section d'Or ("Golden Section"), also known as Groupe de Puteaux or Puteaux Group, was a collective of Painting, painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism (art), Orphism. Based in the Parisian suburbs, the grou ...

group of artists, and his work demonstrates an individual response to

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

. He was influenced by

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, but his work has a more decorative than structural feel and his prismatic colours reflect the influence of

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

. He was a member of the

Puteaux Group The Section d'Or ("Golden Section"), also known as Groupe de Puteaux or Puteaux Group, was a collective of Painting, painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism (art), Orphism. Based in the Parisian suburbs, the grou ...

, an orphist offshoot of cubism led by

Jacques Villon Jacques Villon (July 31, 1875 – June 9, 1963), also known as Gaston Duchamp, was a French Cubist and abstract painter and printmaker. Early life Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, in Normandy, France, he came ...

. His most famous work is ''The Conquest of the Air'', 1913, which depicts himself and his brother outdoors with a balloon in the background. La Fresnaye enlisted in the French army in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

but contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and was discharged in 1918."Roger de La Fresnaye", Oxford Art Online His health deteriorated rapidly after the war. He never recovered the physical energy to undertake sustained work. In the later paintings that he did create, he abandoned cubist spatial analysis for a more linear style. He ceased painting in 1922 but continued to draw. De la Fresnaye died in

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal dialect, Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence- ...

in 1925 at the age of 40.

Art market

On March 24, 2017, a new record was established for a work by De la Frensaye at auction when "La conquête de l'air, avec deux personnages" sold for €2,370,500 at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in Paris.Christie's Paris, ''La conquête de l'air, avec deux personnages''
Art Impressionniste et Moderne, 24 March 2017

Gallery

File:Roger de La Fresnaye.jpg, ''Self Portrait'', ca. 1908-09 File:Fresnaye-homme barbu assis.png, ''L'Homme barbu assis'', circa 1909, Musée d'art moderne de Troyes File:Roger de La Fresnaye, 1910, Deux nus dans un paysage, oil on canvas, 59 x 74 cm, MNAM, Centre Pompidou, Paris.jpg, ''Deux nus dans un paysage'', 1910, MNAM,

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris File:Fresnaye-nu debout de face.png, ''Nu debout de face'', 1910–11,

Musée d'art moderne de Troyes The Musée d'art moderne de Troyes is one of the two main museums in the French city of Troyes - the other is the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Troyes The Musée des beaux-arts de Troyes (officially known as the musée Saint-Loup) is one of the t ...

File:Roger de La Fresnaye, 1911, Cuirassier, oil on canvas, 175.9 x 179 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon.jpg, ''Cuirassier'', 1912, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon Image:Fresnaye artillery.jpg, ''

Artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

'', 1911,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York File:Roger da La Fresnaye, 1912, Jeanne d'Arc, oil on canvas, 200 x 100 cm, Musée d'art moderne de Troyes.jpg, ''Jeanne d'Arc'', 1912,

File:Roger de La Fresnaye, 1912, The Bathers, oil on canvas, 162 x 130 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.jpg, ''The Bathers (Les Baigneuses)'', 1912,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington DC. File:Fresnaye-la conquete de l air.png, ''La conquete de l'air'', 1913, Musée d'art moderne de Troyes Image:Fresnaye conquest of air.jpg, ''The Conquest of the Air'', 1913,

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York File:Roger-Noël-François de La Fresnaye 001.jpg, ''Homme assis'', 1914,

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen is an art museum in Rouen, in Normandy in north-western France. It was established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, and is housed in a building designed by and built between 1877 and 1888. Its collections include ...

File:Fresnaye-table louis-philippe.png, ''La table Louis-Philippe'', 1922,

References

External links