This is the twelfth in a series of ARTicles featuring newly restored paintings on display at the freshly renovated Marshalltown Arts & Civic Center (MACC). Each month a different artist and painting are highlighted.

In 1958, Bill and Dorothy Fisher gifted Marshalltown an extraordinary legacy; a stunning mid-century modern community center and a world class art collection highlighting the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After 55 years, the community center and collection were both in need of restoration. In 2017, with the full support of the Fisher Family and the Fisher Governor Foundation, committees were formed to write grants, digitize records, reach out to organizations and individuals for funding, and hire technical experts and consultants.

An on-site evaluation of the collection was completed the day before the EF3 tornado devastated the north side of Marshalltown and the appraisal of the collection was completed in 2018. A total of 44 artworks, (paintings and sculptures) were chosen for restoration.

In July 2020, the Chicago Conservation Center retrieved the identified works. The very next month, the community center, and much of Marshalltown, was decimated by a derecho.

Restoration of the art was completed in 2021, and the Fisher Art Museum opened in September 2022.

Currently on display are approximately half of the paintings from the Fisher Art Collection. The others are resting in climate-controlled storage and will be on view in 2025.

Today’s featured artist is Maurice de Vlaminck, whose painting of his studio can now be seen at the MACC.

Vlaminck was born in Paris in 1876 to a family which encouraged independence, and who, from his earliest days, was reared to forge his way in the world and pursue personal passions. A man of great physical strength with a natural talent for music, as a young man, he supported himself and buttressed his family, as a professional violinist and cyclist. But he was always drawn to paint.

Around 1900, Vlaminck met the artist André Derain, within whom he discovered a kindred spirit and lifelong friend. Powered by the same love of rebellion and disregard for establishment, together with Paul Signac and Henri Matisse, they helped create a new movement in art.

After viewing the controversial 1905 Salon d’Automne exhibition, in which several of the friends exhibited, critic Louis Vauxcelles dismissed them as “fauves” (wild beasts). The style now had a name: ‘Fauvism’. And the group wore it with pride. They’d sought, and pursued, artistic freedom with a vengeance and had created works highlighted by pure and clashing colors and lively brushstrokes. Perhaps they were grateful for the moniker, for, to them, it mattered not if trees were green, nor skies blue.

Vlaminck’s earlier works clearly reflect knowledge of the Impressionists, who often worked in the same sections of Paris as did he, and the joyful application of paint in his middle years show the influence of Van Gogh. Vlaminck so admired the Dutch painter that upon first viewing his work, he reportedly declared he “loved Van Gogh that day more than my own father”. He was also a fan of Cezanne, whose bold brushwork and semi-monochromatic palette captured his imagination.

As forward thinking and rebellious as Vlaminck was in his own artistic expression, he was not a fan of all modern art. He was not fond of Cubism, blaming Picasso for dragging French painting in a ‘wretched dead end and state of confusion’.

Vlaminck’s painting at the MACC, ‘His Studio/Landscape with Artist’s Studio’, 1913, is an oil on canvas with bold colors, swift strokes and, yes, shifting perspectives. For though he publicly derided Cubism, he too, seemed unable to escape experimenting with planes. And, thankfully, in this work, he was clearly successful in doing so.

During the latter part of his life, his use of color became more representational, yet he continued to enliven canvases with raw emotion.

In World War I, Vlaminck was stationed in Paris, and began writing poetry. He went on to eventually write several autobiographies. Twice married, he had 2 daughters with his second wife, Berthe Combs. Maurice de Vlaminck was a musician, an artist and a writer. He died in 1958 at age 82.

Treat yourself to a visit to the MACC and soak in the beauty of Vlaminck and all others featured. You will be glad you did. Call 641.758.3005 or visit www.maccia.org for more information.

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Nancy Jeanne Adams is a member of the

Fisher Art Museum Committee.