Albert Marquet

Albert Marquet (; 27 March 1875 – 14 June 1947) was a French painter. He initially was one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. Marquet subsequently painted in a more impressionist style, primarily landscapes, but also several portraits and, between 1910 and 1914, several female nude paintings.

Life and work Marquet was born in 1875 in Bordeaux. In 1890 he moved to Paris to attend the École des Arts Décoratifs, where he met Henri Matisse. They were roommates for a time, and they influenced each other's work. Marquet began studies in 1892 at the École des Beaux-Arts under Gustave Moreau, a symbolist artist who was a follower of the Romantic tradition of Eugène Delacroix.

In these years, Marquet exhibited paintings at the Salon des Indépendants. Although he did not sell many paintings, the artistic community of Paris became aware of his work. His early compositions were characterised by a Fauvist approach, in which he had a fine control of the drawing and responded to light, not only by intensifying the strongest tones, but also by seeing the weaker ones in coloristic terms. Marquet and Matisse were already painting together in pure colors as far back as 1898 in the Arcueil and at the Luxembourg Gardens in what was later to be called the Fauve style.

In 1905 he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne where his paintings were put together with those of Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, André Derain, Othon Friesz, Georges Rouault, Raoul Dufy, Henri Manguin, Georges Braque, Louis Valtat, Georges Dufrénoy and Jean Puy. He became a lifelong friend of Matisse.

Dismayed by the intense coloration in these paintings, critics reacted by naming the artists the "Fauves", i.e. the wild beasts. Although Marquet painted with the fauves for years, he used less bright and violent colors than the others, and emphasized less intense tones made by mixing complementaries, thus always as colors and never as grays.

Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturalistic style, primarily landscapes.

During his voyages to Germany and Sweden, he painted the subjects he usually preferred: river and sea views, ports and ships, but also cityscapes. Over the course of his career he often returned to the same subjects, even years later, recording subtle differences in the light. He painted a few portraits, and between 1910 and 1914 he painted a series of nudes

Unlike Matisse, there are no obvious periods of change in his work. As one of Matisse's closest friends, they discussed each other's work. Marquet's death was unexpected and sudden from a gall bladder attack and subsequently discovered cancer, for which at that time there was no therapy. He died in La Frette-sur-Seine, on 14 June 1947.

Legacy The English painter John McLean is among those who consider that "his feeling for colour, the lightness or darkness and saturation of it, its weight, is nothing less than astounding".

Marquet was revered by the American painters Leland Bell and his wife Louisa Matthiasdottir. He was also revered by Bell's contemporaries Al Kresch and Gabriel Laderman. Since both Bell and Laderman were teachers in several American art schools, they have had an influence on younger American figurative artists and their appreciation of Marquet.

Illustrations Jean Cocteau, Bertrand Guégan (1892–1943); L'almanach de Cocagne pour l'an 1920–1922, Dédié aux vrais Gourmands Et aux Francs Buveurs

Gallery