Vallotton, Félix

(1865-1925)

   painter

   Of Swiss origin, Félix Vallotton was born in Lausanne and studied at the Julian Academy. He became a friend of the nabis painters (Edouard vuillard and others), who practiced a colorful and symbolic postimpressionist style and, while exhibiting with them, continued to remain independent. He became a master of xylography, producing illustrations for La Gazette de Lausanne, La Revue blanche, Rire, and Courrier français. In his series of large works (C'est la guerre, Intimités, Crimes et châtiments), he demonstrated a caustic spirit. Having assimilated the Japanese style, he produced works with audacious foreshortenings, elliptical graphics, and a play of white against large dark, uniform masses. His paintings depict interior scenes graphically and with an occasional angular composition and elaborate colors. in his maturity, he painted female nudes with taut forms, revealing his acerbic viewpoint. Vallotton also wrote several pessimistic works, including a novel, La Vie meurtrière, that was published posthumously.