Louis Vauxcelles

Louis Vauxcelles
Jules Chéret · Public domain · source
Name	Louis Vauxcelles
Birth name	Louis Mayer
Birth date	1 January 1870
Birth place	Paris, France
Death date	21 July 1943
Death place	Paris, Occupied France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Art critic, journalist
Known for	Coining the terms "Fauves" and "Cubism"
Employer	Gil Blas, Le Figaro, Excelsior

Louis Vauxcelles was an influential French art critic and journalist whose casual remarks at exhibitions indelibly shaped the vocabulary of modern art. Writing for major publications like Gil Blas and Le Figaro, his reviews were a powerful force in the Parisian art world of the early 20th century. He is most famous for inadvertently naming two of the era's most revolutionary movements, Fauvism and Cubism, through his vivid and often critical descriptions.

Biography

Born Louis Mayer in Paris in 1870, he adopted the pseudonym Vauxcelles early in his career. He became a prominent figure in the Parisian press, contributing art criticism to the newspaper Gil Blas and later to the more conservative Le Figaro. His career spanned the tumultuous period from the Belle Époque through the Interwar period, witnessing the rise of Modernism and the devastation of both World War I and World War II. Vauxcelles moved within the circles of the Montmartre and Montparnasse avant-garde, engaging with artists, dealers like Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, and fellow critics such as Guillaume Apollinaire.

Art criticism and legacy

As a critic, Vauxcelles was a traditionalist with sympathies for movements like the Nabis and artists such as Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. His writing style was often witty, sardonic, and visually descriptive, making his columns widely read and influential. While he frequently expressed bewilderment or disdain for the radical art he encountered, his terminology stuck, demonstrating the power of the press to define artistic discourse. His legacy is paradoxical: though he often criticized the avant-garde, his phrases became the accepted labels for some of the most important movements in art history, cementing his place in its narrative.

Fauvism and the term "Fauves"

The term "Fauves" (Wild Beasts) originated from his review of the 1905 Salon d'Automne. In a room featuring a Renaissance-style sculpture by Albert Marque, he wrote of being surrounded by "Donatello parmi les fauves" (Donatello among the wild beasts), referring to the violently intense colors used by the surrounding painters. The artists he described, including Henri Matisse, André Derain, and Maurice de Vlaminck, embraced the label. His critique highlighted the shock of their unmodulated color, contrasting it with the classical tradition represented by Donatello and the Italian Renaissance.

Cubism and the term "Cubism"

Vauxcelles is also credited with first using the term "Cubism" in print. In 1908, commenting on Georges Braque's exhibition at Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler's gallery, he derisively noted that the artist reduced everything to "des cubes" (cubes). He repeated the term later that year when describing works by Braque and Pablo Picasso at the Salon des Indépendants, writing of "bizarreries cubiques" (cubic oddities). This label, like "Fauves," was initially pejorative but was quickly adopted to define the revolutionary geometric analysis of form pioneered by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and later Juan Gris.

Other notable critiques and terms

Beyond his two most famous neologisms, Vauxcelles' criticism touched on many other significant developments. He was an early supporter of the Nabis and played a role in promoting the sculpture of Aristide Maillol. In 1910, he used the term "Tubism" to mock the cylindrical forms in the work of Fernand Léger. His reviews also documented the emergence of Orphism through the work of Robert Delaunay and the contentious exhibitions of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Even his resistance to movements like Dada and Surrealism provided a record of the establishment's reaction to the ongoing avant-garde upheaval.

Category:French art critics Category:1870 births Category:1943 deaths