André Evard


Jean André Evard was a Swiss painter and drafter. His special significance lies in the field of constructive art. He is counted among the first artists who did not work figuratively. In the course of his life he produced hundreds of oil paintings, a large number of drawings as well as approximately 2000 to 3000 watercolor and gouache paintings.

Biography

André Evard was born on 1st June 1876 in Renan as the son of Jean-Félix Evard and Marie Sagne. After the early death of his father, he and his mother moved to La Chaux-de-Fonds, where Marie Evard ran a pastry shop. Initially working as a pastry chef, André received an inheritance which enabled him to study art. He studied at the École d'Art in La Chaux-de-Fonds from 1905 to 1909 and attended courses in decorative art with Charles L'Eplattenier, a former student of Ferdinand Hodler. Through L'Eplattenier, La Chaux-de-Fonds became a centre of Art nouveau in Switzerland. He was particularly interested in the nature of the Jura and encouraged his pupils to " study the nature of the Jura - from the fir trees to the tectonics of the limestone cliffs - analyse their regularities and translate them into abstract ornaments" (in German: die Natur des Juras – von den Tannen bis zur Tektonik der Kalkfelsen – zu studieren, deren Regelmässigkeiten zu analysieren und in abstrakte Ornamente zu übertragen.\

Artistic work

After completing his studies, Evard initially painted in the French tradition of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Influences of Salon paintings, impressionism and symbolism were mixed with influences van Goghs, but also with those of Far Eastern art, whereby the various artist's styles seemed to merge into a very individual style. In his color compositions, Evard knew how to subject completely opposite colors to absolute harmony. Extreme freedom of feeling, great variety of moods, subtle color modulations and chromatic vivacity characterise his works, as Evard wants to give color its 'spirit'.
Step by step he finally detaches himself from the given ornamental or symbolizing forms and reaches the structure via the ornament. In works such as Crocus, Roses, Roses noir, Chardon, Nocturne or Pyramid, for example, the emphasis is on a limited three-dimensional, physical or spatially geometric drawing. The paintings of the 20s are reminiscent of Wassily Kandinsky, Juan Gris and Georges Braque. Again, however, he seems to unite all influences in his very own style.
The series of works called Roses are a prime example of the development from representational to constructive painting. Thus, in 1917, the Trois roses, the first version of the motif was created, to which he would devote himself for over a decade. For the first time, the tendency towards variation and an almost obsessive way of working becomes visible: sometimes he barely noticeably changes the colours, sometimes he changes the whole composition. The increasing abstraction of the natural object takes place here in an exemplary manner - from cubism to constructivism. While a certain trueness to color is important to him at first, he gradually abandons it, separates himself from the colors and inserts vertical and horizontal lines into the picture, so that the depicted object can almost be seen as a pure geometric form. Evard reduces the representationalism through spatial and surface tensions - but achieves emotional values such as warm and cold, light and dark, playful and harsh through the choice of color.
André Evard's work is difficult to classify in the categories of art history. He was not committed to any particular style, but rather reverted to the past, mixed styles and invented something new. Art Nouveau, Cubism, and geometric-constructive abstractions all define his work. While in Paris he was part of the avant-garde, he later repeatedly withdrew to representational painting.
On the one hand, the play of forms and colors leads to highly expressive representational landscapes, on the other hand, fascinating still lifes emerge from the clear reduction, which show unusual color combinations and completely new object-space relationships. In doing so, he always exposed himself to the risk of a stylistic break, which, however, is the special feature of his artistic oeuvre. He painted abstract when hardly anyone painted abstract and returned to representational painting when Abstract art dominated.

Works Online