The Church (L'eglise) 1927

Maurice de Vlaminck created this print, The Church, using an etching technique. The image shows a village church in what appears to be a rural setting. Looking closely, we see how the artist makes use of a network of jagged and expressive lines to portray the architecture and landscape. Vlaminck was part of a movement called Fauvism in France in the early 1900s, a period when many artists experimented with freeing color from its traditional role in describing objects. In this etching, we see a similar freedom in the artist's use of line and tone. By distorting the perspective and exaggerating the darkness of the church, Vlaminck conveys a sense of its looming presence in the landscape. The church, as a social institution, often played a central role in French village life. Through library archives, one can discover much more about this context and what role it played in forming Vlaminck's art. In this way, we recognize art as always embedded within a specific time, place, and set of social relations.