Vlaminck, Maurice de [key], 1876–1958, French painter, writer, and printmaker. At first an avid racing cyclist, he supported himself (c.1900) as a musician and taught himself to paint. Vlaminck early adopted the strident palette and twisted lines of Van Gogh. He rejected the intellectual approach of cubism, but became associated with fauvism, applying exuberant colors to the canvas directly from the paint tube. Vlaminck was one of the first artists to be influenced by African sculpture. He advanced from the fauvist style to paint strong, often grim landscapes (e.g., Village in the Snow, Philadelphia Mus. of Art). He repeated these so often that they lost much of their original power. Vlaminck also wrote several novels and books of reminiscences.
See his autobiography tr. by M. Ross (1967); illustrated biographies by P. MacOrlan (1958) and J. Selz (1963).
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