If Charles Chatenay (Red Dead Redemption 2) was the artist Henri Matisse?
By Maëva Minguez, translator : Joris Alboréo (2018)
Charles Chatenay is a secondary character of the game Red Dead redemption 2, rather extravagant and very pleasant at each meeting. Where the artist’s image making a number two on a bar is very artistic. I wondered if it was the artist Paul Gauguin, also living more or less during this time, and created a revolutionary art, but greatly displeased by the public. However, later, my choice turned to Henri Matisse.
Indeed, during the game, many elements have pointed me to this conclusion. The face of Charles Chatenay knows many traits similar to Henri Matisse, comparable to Clark Kent turning into Super Man. The philanthropic aspect of the artist is worth noting too. To go further, Henri Matisse painted The Cowboy (1947)[1], leaving room for our imagination, we can imagine that Matisse is painted this while thinking of a character like Arthur Morgan he met. In this brief analysis, we will particularly see the scene of the visit to the gallery and compare some paintings with those of Henri Matisse. When we enter the gallery, we have presented two rooms there: the first exhibiting creations that seem to be permanent, the second those of Charles Chateney, the temporary ones.
In a symbolic way, this can evoke the evolution of Matisse, who at first painted in an academic way, the arch representing the trigger Gustave Moreau releasing him to an art of his own, a freer art. In 1892, Matisse met Albert Marquet at the School of Decorative Arts and then enrolled in 1895, at the School of Fine Arts, in Gustave Moreau's studio. The teacher's teaching encourages his pupils to think about their painting, to dream it, beyond technical virtuosity. Matisse, like his classmates, Georges Rouault, Leon Lehmann, Simon Bussy, Eugene Martel, Albert Huyot or Henri Evenepoel, is stimulated by this conception of painting and intends to develop his own individuality. Gustave Moreau, during a correction, said to him: “You will simplify the painting.[2]” This prophecy can be considered as the aesthetic program of the work of Henri Matisse.
When we pass the ark, we can see on the left a painting where there is a naked woman lying down. This kind of painting, Henri Matisse has painted a good number. Looking at the painting by Charles Chateney and Matisse's Reclining Nude, we can observe many common elements, both in terms of composition and colors.
In a symbolic way, this can evoke the evolution of Matisse, who at first painted in an academic way, the arch representing the trigger Gustave Moreau releasing him to an art of his own, a freer art. In 1892, Matisse met Albert Marquet at the School of Decorative Arts and then enrolled in 1895, at the School of Fine Arts, in Gustave Moreau's studio. The teacher's teaching encourages his pupils to think about their painting, to dream it, beyond technical virtuosity. Matisse, like his classmates, Georges Rouault, Leon Lehmann, Simon Bussy, Eugene Martel, Albert Huyot or Henri Evenepoel, is stimulated by this conception of painting and intends to develop his own individuality. Gustave Moreau, during a correction, said to him: “You will simplify the painting.[2]” This prophecy can be considered as the aesthetic program of the work of Henri Matisse.
When we pass the ark, we can see on the left a painting where there is a naked woman lying down. This kind of painting, Henri Matisse has painted a good number. Looking at the painting by Charles Chateney and Matisse's Reclining Nude, we can observe many common elements, both in terms of composition and colors.
Continuing the visit in a clockwise direction, we can see a painting showing a nude. The posture of the woman can evoke Nude seated with crossed legs (1820) and Blue Naked (1952). The minimalist aspect of the first choice evokes a sketch, in Red dead redemption 2, the story takes place in 1899, if it is Naked sitting with crossed legs is actually the sketch of this work destroyed in a fight of puritans surely consanguineous.
Continuing to the right, at the corner of the room, is the artist in front of a large
painting, strongly suggesting to Nude in the studio (1899). The artist is there before. This presence can state something very relevant: the dating together with the two works, in 1899.
We continue the visit. Right in the corner is the painting of three naked people. Henri Matisse painted many paintings with this representation of three naked individuals such as luxury, calm, and delight (1907), music (1907), or game of balls (1908).
The next painting seems to represent a naked man with a straw hat at the edge of a lake or a beach. The decor evokes the paintings Bosquets au bord de la Garonne (1900), the Gulf of Saint Tropez (1904), or the riverbank (1907). However, the character refers more to Ernst Ludwig Kirchber's painting (1908) Nude Blue reclining nude Painting with a Straw Hat. The latter was a German expressionist painter, this artist created Die Brücke "The Bridge", where likewise the artist expresses through painting this need for freedom and spontaneity. The model on painting may be Henri Matisse.
Finally, the last painting, to the right of the room is another nude, where the model is back, while looking slightly the audience (and painter). Henri Matisse, and his taste for required of Adam and Eve, painted many nudes (mostly women) in almost all positions. We can recall lying Nude (1930), or Reclining Nude back (1944).
A woman comes to us and asks why the model is not more dressed. The artist said that nudity represents freedom and clothing oppression. This kind of response is in harmony with Henri Matisse. Indeed, Henri Matisse, through his paintings and other creations, therefore declares against violence in expression, scoring against fleeting and superficial sensations, and against all pseudo-scientific doctrine. What I dream, he said in conclusion, it is an art of balance, purity, tranquility," an art that rejects any superfluous element which himself will become master, saying he can copy nature as a slave but that by the interpretation in fact, she must submit to the spirit of the painting.[1]
The end of the visit ends like a fight, humans are like wild animals. A parallel may be made to the autumn exhibition of 1905, where one of his works with those of Albert Marquet, Vlaminck, Paul Derain and Kees van Dongen causes a scandal. The colors he painted are considered violent. Seeing these paintings, the critic Louis Vauxcelles says that the place is a "cage tawny". The word "tawny" gave the name of Fauvism, an artistic movement.[2]
I shared my brief analysis of the relationship between Charles Chatenay and Henri Matisse. Of course I did not mention all the works in the gallery, or the sketch that Charles Chatenay offers to Arthur Morgan. I remember my year in high school where I studied it so much more boring and sleepy. Rockstar games Thank you for bringing me more flavors on this artist and other impressionist and expressionist painters. Your game is so full of exquisite flavors, wonderful details. Thank you very much for making this game.
01/01/2019
| charles_chatenay_is_a_secondary_character_of_the_game_red_dead_redemption_2.pdf |