Roger de La Fresnaye
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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 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' ...
family whose ancestral home, the Château de La Fresnaye, is in Falaise. His education was classically based, and was followed from 1903 to 1904 by studies at the Académie Julian 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 centur ...
. From 1908 he studied at the Académie Ranson 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, whose joint influence is evident in early works such as ''Woman with Chrysanthemums'', 1909. This demonstrates the dreamlike symbolist ambience and stylistic character of work by the Les Nabis 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. He was influenced by Georges Braque 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 painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism. Based in the Parisian suburbs, the group held regular meetings ...
, 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 art, abstract painter and printmaker. Early life Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, Damville, Eure, ...
. 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, i ...
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 oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the c ...
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 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, Paris File:Fresnaye-nu debout de face.png, ''Nu debout de face'', 1910–11, Musée d'art moderne de Troyes 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, Musée d'art moderne de Troyes 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, 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, Musée d'art moderne de Troyes


References


Further reading

*
Germain Seligman Germain Seligman (25 February 1893, Paris – 27 March 1978, New York) was a successful art dealer, collector, and art historian. From 1924, Seligman headed the Paris and New York offices of Jacques Seligmann & Cie., a prominent art dealership. Or ...
: ''Roger de La Fresnaye'', Thames & Hudson Ltd (1969) *Tom Slevin: '"The Catastrophe of my Existence": Facing Death in Roger de La Fresnaye's Self-Portraiture' (''Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities'', Vol. 16 No.1, 2011) * Niccolo Caldararo on research concerning the paintings by de la Fresnaye, especially one owned by George de Batz, "The Mysterious Case of an Art Collector Extraordinary Found by Examination of a Painting," e_conservation, the online magazine, No. 4, April 2008, pp. 52–68/94.


External links


Artcyclopedia
- Links to Fresnaye's works * {{DEFAULTSORT:La Fresnaye, Roger De 1885 births 1925 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters Académie Julian alumni 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Cubist artists Orphism (art) Art educators 19th-century French male artists