Olive trees in Cavalier

Landscape "Olive trees in the Cavalier", written at the peak of the heyday of Fauvism, is one of the most important paintings in the work of Henri Mangin. The work dates back to 1906, when bold colors and expressive strokes pushed the Fauves into the avant-garde of contemporary art, and Mangen was at the forefront of this movement together with his colleague Henri Matisse.

Both artists met at the School of Decorative Arts, and then in November 1894 entered the School of Fine Arts, where their mentor was a symbolist Gustave Moreau. And although the teacher was a member of the conservative Institute of France, he gave his students a lot of freedom - and they appreciated his tolerant attitude. After the death of the mentor in 1898, Mangan left training, and a year later moved with his young wife and beloved model Zhanna Caret to the house along Burso Street, 61. Being the son of wealthy parents, he arranged a collapsible studio in the garden, where he called his classmates and paid for models , which they posed.

A year before the legendary Autumn Exhibition in the Salon of 1905, Matisse worked in this workshop, Albert Marquet, Jean Puy and Charles Camuán. They shared Matisse's fascination with divisionism (or pointillism): for fun and pleasure they wrote each other and nudes of models, more focusing on careless style Maximilien Luce, than on scrupulous technique Fields of Signac.

Winter was a period of intrigues, conspiracies and violent behind-the-scenes lobbying: various factions of the art world tried to promote to their next year's shows their favorites. The poet Charles Guerin in December recorded Matisse for the planning meeting of the Autumn Salon, instructing him "Bring Mangan, Mark and other sympathizers whom he can attract". This is written by Hilary Sperling in his book "Unknown Matisse" (1998).

The summer of 1905 was spent among innovators in feverish work. They wrote views in the south of France, in Saint-Tropez and nearby Collioure, fascinated by the dazzling hot sunlight flooding the landscape with olive groves. But their vigorous strokes, densely imposed paints and bright clean colors caused a real scandal in the Salon in the autumn of the same year. "A pot of paint was thrown in the face of the public", - critic Camille Mockler was indignant. And according to the testimony of the writer Gertrude Stein, the audience even scratched the canvases as a sign of contempt.

There the pioneers of Fauvism received their baptism. Critic Louis Vauxel described hall number 7, where their works were exhibited, as Donatello among wild animals (it was meant that in the center, surrounded by shocking canvases, there was a Renaissance-style sculpture). The journalist tried to offend the artists, but they liked the nickname "wild" (fauves, fov). Soon it became widespread, and then became the designation of a new movement.

After the exhibition, Mangen continued to create brilliant, expressive and emotionally filled canvases. It was for the love of color and the glorification of life through the poetic images of carefree bliss and serenity that the poet Guillaume Apollinaire called the Fauvist a "lascivious painter." In May 1906, art dealer Ambroise Vollar showed remarkable insight, having bought over ninety works of Mangan.

After more than 80 years, journalist Jean-Louis Ferrier wrote: "Mangan's painting is a symphony of strong colors, where pure red dominates over red-orange, purple-violet, dark blue, dark green and golden-yellow. Lines, forms - everything expresses strength. Everything is amazing. It is an exalted work that warms the heart and brings joy ".

In March 1907 the landscape "Olive Trees in Cavalier-sur-Mer" was purchased from the artist by the Paris gallery Bernheim-Jeune. After nearly 30 years, Henri Mangin bought it from an individual and kept it in his collection until his death in 1949, after which the picture was inherited by his daughter Lucille. In May 2016, the work was sold at auction Sotheby's for 1 million 150 thousand US dollars.

Author: Vlad Maslov