André Evard’s watercolor Avec les oiseaux (Yellow Field with Black Birds) from 1908 depicts a
reduced, almost abstracted landscape scene. On the small 8.5 x 11 cm sheet, a bright orange-yellow field unfolds,
occupying most of the composition and forming a
color-intensive surface as the background for a group of black-blue birds that
are dynamically distributed across the scene. The contrast between the warm, almost flatly
applied yellow hue and the blue, silhouette-like bird figures creates a
tension-filled visual effect due to the use of complementary contrast.
Already in this early watercolor, Evard’s interest in color fields, composition, and
the simplification of form is evident – elements that would later become formative for his constructivist and
abstract works.