Raoul Dufy: Last of the Fauves.

• Author: BAILEY, W. SCOTT

The artist adapted the creative use of color and drawing exemplified by Henri Matisse and the Fauve movement, but added a heightened ambient light to achieve the brightness that became an integral element of his work.

RAOUL DUFY'S pictures always have been enjoyed for their beauty and celebration of life, but there is a depth unplumbed by museums until now. Many people have an image of Duly as a watercolorist, who concentrated on regattas and horseraces. However, a major series of oil paintings, made between 1901 and his death in 1953, reveal a unique strength and vision in Dufy's art, which may surprise those used to the stereotype of him as a painter of lightness and sweetness.

Dufy was born in Le Havre, France, in 1877. At the age of 15, he enrolled at the local arts school. In 1900, the town of Le Havre awarded him a grant to study art in Paris. His interest in color began with the Impressionists, and Dufy admired works by Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. He captured in broken brash strokes the shimmering light of Ste. Adresse, at the same beach that so captivated Monet, in "La Plage de Ste. Adresse." Dufy desired to "convey not that what I see, but that which is ... my reality?"

"Nude on a Pink Sofa" shows Dufy's experimentation with color even before the first Fauve exhibition in 1905. (The Fauve movement was typified by the works of Henri Matisse and characterized by vivid color, free treatment of form, and a resulting vibrant and decorative effect.) This painting is possibly Dufy's first attempt to utilize a style that attempted to show his "reality," rather than just the surface of a subject. Dufy did not exhibit with Matisse and his group of Fauves at that first show, but he was excited by their creative use of color and drawing. He developed his own theory of couleur-lumiere (heightened ambient color/light), retaining this as an integral element in his art throughout his career. In fact, he was the only Fauve whose work retained this brightness.

Like Georges Braque, his hometown friend and fellow Fauve, Dufy experimented with Cubism from 1907 on, utilizing flattened space and an emphasis on form. Unlike other leading Cubists, though, Dufy used a bright palette throughout his career, while incorporating shallow space, angular shapes, and flattened forms, as exemplified in "Vence" and "Composition."

Along with landscapes and the human figure, Dufy was captivated by the theme of windows. As with Matisse and Pablo Picasso, Dufy...