René Crevel

Painting

Work

Painting
Painting, in watercolour, gouache, oil, all form a crucial part of René Crevel’s artistic output. It is the anchor point of a hugely varied output, without hierarchy of genres; all art forms united in a perpetual movement from one expression to another. For Crevel, painting generated the decorative work, which in turn enriched the painted work with its iconographic and aesthetic discoveries. And while he soon revealed himself as one of the most innovative decorative artists of his time, he also pursued his activity as a painter.

Right from the beginning, he explored several avenues. Initially he was influenced by the Japanism, and Cloisonnism dear to the Nabis painters, flat images in stark colours outlined in black. By the end of the First World War he had developed his own styles: first in Triel, where he painted a particularly daring series of paintings with expressive graphics and fauvist tones. Then in Fécamp, where his expression became fluid, on the margins of abstraction, and his palette more nuanced.
The beginning of the 1930s shows a return to a more figurative style, and towards a decorative cubism, painting idealised landscapes populated with imaginary characters. It was also a move towards a simplified realism, poetic or social, with great evocative power. Being trained as a draughtsman and with a great eye for colour, in maturity he was a prolific watercolourist, producing countless views of ports and landscapes, of which genre he is one of the magicians. Crevel left a considerable body of work; pencil and ink drawings, oils, gouaches and watercolours, all the work of this one distinguished painter. This breadth of artistic talent is what underpinned some of the most striking decorative works of the inter-war period.