User:Belgianart/sandbox

Georges-Émile Lebacq was a Belgian painter born in Jemappes (Mons) on September 26, 1876, he died in Bruges August 4 1950.

Avant-garde in his youth
He began painting in 1896, mainly portraits, at the age of 19. All these paintings, rare for this period may be found at the Museum of fine arts of Mons, BAM, Belgium. At this time he published poems in the young avant-garde magazine "Le Coq Rouge"[1] a symbolist magazine which was created by Georges Eekhoud, Flemish – Francophone writer, Eugène Demolder, writer, Louis Delattre, doctor and Belgian author, Hubert Krains writer and Walloon activist and Emile Verhaeren, poet and writer. There he met James Ensor who wrote many articles and editorials in the spirit of the journal[2], Maurice Maeterlinck, Francis Nautet and Hubert Stiernet.

In 1899 he participated in the creation of the journal "Le Thyrse" in Brussels (the name of a Dionysian attribute celebrated by Baudelaire in the “Spleen de Paris”3] He was part of the drafting Committee with André Baillon, Emile Lejeune, Pol Stievenart, Léopold Rosy, Fernand Urbain and Charles Viane and wrote articles on painting and poetry [4] He frequented  the poet Emile Verhaeren, writer Camille Lemonnier (who sponsored Le Thyrse), Hubert Krains, Jules Destrée, writer and politician, and many others. During this period, he published two collections of poetry " Nuits Subversives" in 1897, a series of prose poems in the hermetic style[5] and "Irrésolvables" in 1899, a collection of poems[6].

Searching for sunny landscapes
Having hesitated some time between a career as a writer-poet and that of an artist, he left Le Thyrse in 1907 to devote himself entirely to painting. He travelled with his wife and children to Algeria, Italy, particularly Venice, to the Middle East, finally settling in France in Cagnes-sur-mer where he met the Cannes painter Louis Pastour (1876-1948) and bound friendship with him. He stayed at the Villa des Orchidées, not far from the Domaine des Collettes, a magnificent olive grove which Pierre-Auguste Renoir bought on June 28, 1907, to save it being felled. He primarily painted in France but he regularly returned to Belgium, particularly to Flanders to paint there. After the Second World War he returned to Bruges and remained there until his death. He is buried in the cemetery of Wenduine on the Flemish coast. While his early works (primarily portraits) are examples of classicism in the style of painters of the late 19th century, his works of the period 1907-1920 are resolutely Impressionist works. (This is the case of works like "Femme assise dans une allée", 1918, (BAM de Mons), "Lumière d’été à Vaux-le - Pénil", circa 1918 (private Collection) or "Le repos en terasse" (private collection). After this period he returned to more classical post-impressionnistes works. It is not certain that Georges Émile Lebacq was a self-taught painter. This excellent portrait artist, pastellist, watercolourist, in any case became a student of the Académie Julian in Paris in 1920 with as a master painter Adolphe Déchenaud and Henri Royer [7] . Long before he had attended the Studio of Louis Reckelbus (1864-1958), his friend, a gifted watercolourist and printmaker who became curator of the Groeninge museum in Bruges.

World War 1
The great war begins. In 1915, the painter is a committed volonteer (he was almost 40 years old). He joined the Calais regiment. In 1917 he was assigned to La Panne (Grand Quartier-Général) as a painter of the army in the famous "Section artistique de l’armée belge en Campagne”[8] . There were 26 artists in this section, including Fernand Allard Olivier, Alfred Bastien, Léon Huygens, Armand Massonet, and Pierre Paulus[9] . During the war, he participated in the exhibition of the painters of the Belgian Front (Switzerland, 1917).

He was sorely affected by the war. Upon his return to Bruges, he found his workshop vandalized, thirteen years of work destroyed, his paintings, drawings, etchings taken by the Germans in 1915. A book of 93 sketchs and oil paintings on postcards were found at an auction in Hamburg in October 2006[10]. In spite of these set-backs, he started to paint again, this time with a new palette and the ambition to become a Church painter.

The painter of gentle harmony
This is how an art critic[11] described him. Working with watercolor, sanguine, pastel, charcoal ("charcoal taught me to paint " he always said), His many works include “ Abandon”, for which he obtained the Jury’s prize at the 1927 French artists’ Salon,“Rue du Corbeau”, “Vieilles maisons à Furnes” and”La Femme au miroir”. His paintings were exposed for a long period at the Salon of French artists at the Grand Palais (Paris) before World war 2.

Georges Émile Lebacq was a friend of Hubert Krains and Hubert Stiernet for whom he illustrated many stories [12]. In numerous letters to him, Hubert Stiernet wrote: “Work my friend, work, use colour, forget the clouds: the Walloons are shy of the first and headless of the second. Give my compliments to St. François and tell the apple trees in your orchard that they will never bear apples as beautiful as those that grow at the end of your brush! "." In France, Georges - Emile Lebacq frequented Denys Puech, French sculptor, Director of the Villa Medici from 1921 to 1933, an elected member of the Academy of fine arts in 1905 and  the opera singer, Charles Panzéra (1896-1976) with whom his daughter, Henriette, took singing lessons. He dedicated a stained glass window "Portrait de Panzéra" to him During the exhibition of November 1923 at the Gallery "Journal" in Paris, Denys Puech wrote of him: "It is with pleasure that I write these few lines on the first page of the catalogue of the Georges Lebacq exhibition, to introduce him to the reader and to express the joy that I have felt in the works of this artist too modestly retired in silence and study”. The Princess Gagarine Stourdza discovered Lebacq in Cannes in 1911. He had asked the President of the association of fine arts of the lovely city of Cannes to accept one of his paintings at the exhibition: “Le Mas Abandonné”  a powerful and much appreciated  canvas. He exhibited in a small salon in Cannes, a French town which was accustomed to audacity and the unexpected, where a group of artists, loving light and life, charmed the population each winter by their works. The elegant visitors came from all corners of the world. He had huge success there. His studies of Bruges and Artois were admired for their wealth of tones and exquisite sensitivity... Our dear Belgians allies, could count Georges Lebacq, this exceptional artist, amongst their artistic treasures and pure glory." [13]

A retrospective was held at the Museum of fine arts of Mons (BAM) (Belgium) in 1957. Many works, including parts of the painter’s studio, currently belong to the BAM de Mons.

Works
This list is not exhaustive. Some paintings or drawings have unfortunately disappeared. Others are in the Museum of fine arts of Mons (BAM) (Belgium), in the Royal Museum of the army and those of fine arts in Brussels, at the Museum of the Vénerie in Senlis (Oise), the Renoir Museum and Museum of the Château Grimaldi at Cagnes sur mer. The majority of his works are apparently part of private collections. Until very recently, the paintings of this artist were little present on the art market. Emma Lebacq, the wealthy wife of the painter, said that her husband had devoted himself body and soul to his painting not to the commercial and business side of things.

Belgian Period
From Furnes in 1933 he wrote: "the winter has a very particular character and in Flanders, the sky seems larger on the polders of the horizon where the colourful houses seem small on the ground separated by rows of blossoming willows ".


 * Petite dune (Wenduyne sur mer (Wenduine) - Flandre)
 * Une Ferme en Flandre, Private Collection
 * Pignon à Reninghe (Flandre)
 * La rue du Corbeau (Bruges - Flandre)
 * Neige (Bruges - Flandre) Esquisse, Private Collection
 * Chaland à Bruges (Bruges - Flandre) Drawing
 * Canal à Bruges (Bruges - Flandre) Pastel, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * À Knocke (Knocke - Flandre) Drawing

Provençale Period
As early as 1906 in Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes he stayed at the villa des Orchidées near Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s, Domaine des Collettes. He produced many charcoal sketches, watercolors, and paintings of olive trees, olive groves, Cagnes, and its region.


 * Rochers - Matinée, La Bocca (Alpes Maritimes), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * L'olivier - Cros-de-Cagnes (Alpes Maritimes), Musée Renoir à Cagnes sur mer
 * Lumière d'été à Cagnes-sur-Mer, Private Collection
 * Sous les Oliviers - Cros-de-Cagnes (Alpes Maritimes), Musée de Cagnes sur mer (Château Grimaldi)
 * Nuage sur les Collettes - Musée de Cagnes sur mer (Château Grimaldi)
 * La Jarre Bleue - Cagnes sur Mer (Alpes Maritimes), Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire, Bruxelles (Belgique)
 * A Cros-de-Cagnes (Alpes Maritimes), toile qu'il expose pour la première fois à l'Exposition Triennale de Bruxelles en 1914 en compagnie de James Ensor qui expose de son côté : Étonnement du masque Wouse, Masques scandalisés et Vengeance de Hop-Frog, collection privée
 * Femme assise dans une allée - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * Nuit (St Paul du Var) Dessin et Pastel, Private Collection

Return to Belgium during World War 1


Many paintings and especially extremely dark charcoal drawings of the war in the region of Ypres.


 * La Maison bombardée, 1917 (Ferme en Flandre Occidentale sur le Front de l'Yser), Private Collection
 * Front de l'Yser en 1917 (Flandre), Private Collection
 * Ruines à Reninghe 1917 (Flandre), Private Collection



Departure for France after the World War 1


Installation à Vaux-le-Pénil près de Melun (Seine-et-Marne)


 * L'inondation - La Seine à Vaux le Pénil (Seine et Marne), Privation Collection
 * Le Chemin de la Mare des Champs (Vaux le Pénil)
 * Saint Liesne (Vaux le Pénil)
 * Coin de Parc (Vaux le Pénil), Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire, Bruxelles (Belgique)
 * La rue Couvet (Vaux le Pénil), oil on canvas, Rodez Museum (France)
 * Soir (Vaux le Pénil)

Move


À Chamant (Oise) près de Senlis


 * Abandon (Chamant - Oise), Privation Collection
 * La Meule - Temps Gris à Chamant (Chamant - Oise)
 * Rue - (Chamant - Oise), Privation Collection
 * La Mare Forêt d'Halatte (Oise), Privation Collection
 * A la Corne du Parc - Soir à Chamant (Chamant - Oise)
 * Meules au soleil (Chamant - Oise)
 * Conte de Fées - Forêt d'Halatte (Oise)
 * Route - Balagny (Oise)
 * Le Miroir d'eau - Château d'Ognon (Ognon - Oise), Musée de la Vénerie à Senlis
 * Silence - Château d'Ognon (Ognon - Oise)
 * Poème d'Automne dans le Parc du Château d'Ognon (Ognon - Oise, Private Collection
 * Effet de Neige (Chamant - Oise)
 * Le Braconnier (Forêt d'Halatte)
 * Place de Saint Frambourg (Senlis - Oise) Dessin, Musée de la Vénerie à Senlis
 * La Rue de la Tonnellerie (Senlis - Oise) Dessin, Musée de la Vénerie à Senlis
 * Escalier dans le parc d'Ognon (Ognon - Oise) Dessin, Musée de la Vénerie à Senlis
 * Meules et chemin à Chamant Dessin, Musée de la Vénerie à Senlis
 * Escalier dans le jardin d'Ognon (Ognon - Oise) Dessin, Musée de la Vénerie à Senlis

Stay in Brittany
À Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer près de Saint-Malo


 * Pointe de la Goule aux Fées (Saint-Enogat - Ille-et-Vilaine), Privation Collection
 * Vaguelettes - Saint Jacut - Ille-et-Vilaine, Privation Collection
 * Le Port de Saint Jacut - Ille-et-Vilaine, Privation Collection
 * Les Ebiens - Saint Jacut - Ille-et-Vilaine, Privation Collection

Painting at Quercy


À Gourdon (Lot) et Carennac (Lot)


 * Chemin à (Carennac - Lot), Privation Collection
 * Le Cloître (Carennac - Lot), Privation Collection
 * Le Pont de Carennac (Lot)
 * Le Vieil escalier (Carennac - Lot), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * L'Hôte invisible (Carennac - Lot), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * Dordogne - Vue sur Castelnau Bretenoux (Lot)
 * Une Rue à Gourdon (Lot)
 * Décoration de la Basilique de Rocamadour (Lot), personnages de l'histoire de France : Roland, Saint Louis, Jean le Bon, Charles le Bel, Philippe d'Alsace, Henri II, Blanche de Castille, Louis XI, Marie de Luxembourg
 * Vitraux de l'Église de Creysse (Lot)
 * Vitrail du Maître-Autel de l'Église de Goudou (Lot) : "La décollation de Saint Jean le Baptiste"
 * Vitrail du Maître-Autel de l'Église de Mayrac (Lot) : "Saint Martin partageant son manteau"

Known for the many paintings that he painted in the Lot and Dordogne, Georges Émile Lebacq will be known as the "Painter of Quercy".

• A stong Christian, the painter signed some of his canvases by adding the sign of fish typical of early Christianity:

: Χ (KH, CH) : ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (KHRISTOS) « Christ » : Θ (TH) : ΘΕΟΥ (THEOU) « de Dieu » : Υ (U) : ΥΙΟΣ (HUIOS) « fils » : Σ (S) : ΣΩΤΗΡ Sôter (SÔTÊR) « Sauveur ».

Still Life

 * La Théière bleue
 * Cuivre et Pommes, Privation Collection
 * La Théière Noire, Privation Collection
 * Le Monstre, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * La Nappe à carreaux, Privation Collection
 * Pâtissons
 * Courges et Aubergines
 * Pommes (Coin de Table)
 * Deux Pommes
 * La Pie morte, Privation Collection
 * La Belle Pêche
 * Le Confiturier ancien
 * Fruits, Privation Collection
 * Pommes et Fèves

Portraits



 * Le Portrait Bleu, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * Portrait (Étude), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * Portrait de M.M., Chanoine d'Assises, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgique)
 * Autoportrait, Privation Collection
 * Autoportrait dans son atelier avec sa palette et sa blouse, Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire, Bruxelles (Belgique)
 * Portrait de Mme Georges Lebacq, Privation Collection
 * Portrait de Mademoiselle Lebacq, Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire, Bruxelles (Belgique)
 * Portrait de Georges Lebacq (Fils) enfant, Privation Collection
 * Portrait de Georges Lebacq (Fils) enfant (Charcoal), Privation Collection
 * Portrait d'Henri Lebacq (Fils), Privation Collection
 * Portrait du Peintre, Privation Collection


 * Portrait of Ms. H. Lebacq by Georges Émile Lebacq, 1926, oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm, Privation Collection
 * Portrait Bleu, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgium)
 * Portrait (study), Museum of fine arts of Mons (BAM) (Belgium)
 * Portrait of M.M., Chanoine d’ Assises, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mons (BAM) (Belgium)
 * Self-portrait, Privation Collection
 * Self-portrait in his studio with his palette and his Work coat, Musée Royal de l’Armée et d’Histoire Militaire, Brussels (Belgium)
 * Portrait of Mrs. Georges Lebacq, private Collection
 * Portrait of Mademoiselle Lebacq, Musée Royal de l’Armée et d’Histoire Militaire, Brussels (Belgium)
 * Portrait of Georges Lebacq (son) child, private collection
 * Portrait of Georges Lebacq (son) child (charcoal),private collection
 * Portrait of Henri Lebacq (son), private Collection
 * Portrait of the painter, private Collection
 * Portrait of Georges Lebacq, son of the painter by Georges Émile Lebacq, 1910, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 cm, Privation Collection

Miscellaneous

 * He contributed from the beginning in 1899, to the art journal "The Thyrsus" (Brussels) and was part of the Committee of Writing for several years
 * Publication of two collections of poetry prose and poetic tales: "Nuits Subversives.""in 1897 and"Irrésolvables"in 1899
 * Illustration of the "Contes à la Nichée" by Hubert Stiernet 1909
 * Illustration of the "Petites Contes en Sabot" by Louis Delattre 1923
 * Illustration of the book "Sur la Route de Jérusalem" by Clément Teulières 1934
 * Stained-glass window of the high altar of the Chapel St Lazare(hospital in Senlis, Oise): the resurrection of Lazarus
 * Allegorical fresco: Les Fleuves (1937) for the 1937 Paris International exhibition (l'Exposition Internationale de Paris de 1937 Pavillon de la Ville de Paris Musée d'art Moderne)

Exhibitions

 * Exhibition at the Salon of the Association of fine arts of Cannes - 1911
 * Exhibition at the Salon Triennial (Brussels)-1914
 * Exhibition of the works of the painter Georges Émile Lebacq Galerie of the Journal (Paris) - 1923
 * Exhibition at the Salon of French artists each year during the period-1920-1935
 * Exhibition of the works of the painter Georges Émile Lebacq Galerie d'art (Bruxelles) - 1928
 * Retrospective exhibition of works by the painter Georges Émile Lebacq Galerie Veronese (Paris) - 1955
 * Retrospective exhibition of works by the painter Georges Émile Lebacq Gallery of Mons(BAM)(Belgium) - 1957
 * Retrospective exhibition of works by the painter Georges Émile Lebacq at the former synagogue, art Centre, La Ferté sous Jouarre (Ile de France) from September 18 to November 8, 2009.
 * Exhibition " C’était t’en souviens-tu … à Cagnes" Cagnes-sur-Mer - Château - musée Grimaldi from June 25th to September 5th 2011.

Notes and References
[1] Born from the split of the Group of young Belgium. Georges Eekhoud, Demolder, Maubel moved away from the old Parnassian review in 1895 and joined up with Krains, Verhaeren and others to found a new purely Symbolist journal; “Le Côq Rouge”. The title comes from the expression "to blackmail the Red rooster", which means to  voluntarily set fire to  the neighbour’s roof. This anarchist publication, in which there are the signatures of Maeterlinck, Verhaeren and Gide, allowed a wide aesthetic and political debate. LE COQ ROUGE , Literary magazine. Editorial Board: l. Delattre; E. Demolder; G. Eekhoud; M. Maeterlinck; F. Nautet; E. Verhaeren, bi-monthly. 64 pp. in - 8 °, Brussels. In Le Côq Rouge, un boute-feu bruxellois, published in the standard journals review No. 15, 1993, p 42-53. [2] James Ensor writes a few articles in Le Côq Rouge, all well in the style of the journal editorials. Thus he tells the story of Leopold II’s visit to  the salon d'Ostend in 1896: the King watched with interest the sorry landscapes of Laermans, Mr. Stevens(Alfred), ran worriedly to him and  said: “The author of the painting is deaf and dumb, it is unfortunate that he is blind as well, he could not paint any worse! Farther on,he reiterates the same words in front of a landscape of Claus. Here the King interrupted him by a heart-felt swear... James Ensor concludes: "the matamoresques call the final breakthrough . in"when Le Côq Rouge planted it’s claws in young Belgium" (1895-1897) communication from Georges-Henri Dumont at the monthly meeting of 14 December 1991. [3] Archives and the Museum of literature: www.aml.cfwb.be Textyles: http:/ / www. textyles. be / (chronic extracted from: Textyles, no. 14, 1997) p. 195-196), archives of the journal Le Thyrse. In 1899, the heyday of  Belgium and La Wallonia are gone. Like many young  writers, Léopold Rosy and Charles Viane meet regularly at “Au Roi Gambrinus”, rue de la Victoire near la porte de Hal dreaming  of founding  a magazine, to publish their first poems, to participate in the artistic movements and to be recognised by their seniors. Soon, the journal will emerge, sponsored by Camille Lemonnier himself. It is called  Le  Thyrse, the name of a Dionysian attribute celebrated by Baudelaire's Le Spleen de Paris. In the eyes of the founders, Le Thyrse appeared "as a symbol." representing the guardian idea of the windings of the flowers of Art".  Rosy and Viane, Gaston-Denys Périer, Albert d'Ailez, Léon Wéry, Charles Govaert, Fernand Urbain, Georges Lebacq and André Baillon. All agree on this in Archives and the Museum of Literature - Chronicles - Frans DE HAES (June 1997) [4]. Le Thyrse, bi-monthly 1st year, volume I (of May 1, 1899-April 15, 1900) to volume 8 (1906-1907), Brussels. Georges-Émile Lebacq 11 [5] Georges Lebacq Nuits subversives, Brussels, j. Janssens, 1897. In - 12, paperback [6] Georges Lebacq Irrésolvables. Brussels, the Thyrsus, 1899, In-12, Paperback Edition [7] The Salon 1927 - 140th exhibition official des Beaux-Arts – Socièté de Artistes Français - Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées [8] The artistic Section (of the Belgian  country army) Front de L'Yser (the blackout) 1916. This association is founded by the staff of the Belgian army to represent the facts of war and life on the front. The artists work primarily at Nieuport and Loo. Alfred Bastien and Leon Huygens are at the origin of this initiative, which would have been supported by King Albert and Queen Elisabeth. The artistic Section includes twenty-six artists. There are accepted in chronological order: Alfred Bastien, Léon Huygens, Maurice Wagemans, Charles Houben. Fernand Allard olive, James Thiriar, Amédée Lynen, Jules Berchmans, Victor Thonet, Jean Lemayeur, Henri Anspach and Jos Verdegem in 1916, Médard Maertens, Georges Lebacq, Pierre Paulus, Achiel Van Sassenbrouck, a. Renson, Louis Loncin in 1917, Joe English,. Anne-Pierre de Kat, Marcel Canneel, Armand Massonet, Albert Cels, Marc-Henri Meunier in 1918. Iwan deer and Félix fountain are accepted also; but the time of their entry is unknown. (www.arto.be: the dictionary of artists in Belgium 1800-2002) [9] "Colours in the Front" 1914-1918 the painters at the Belgian Front, under the leadership of Joost De Geest and Piet De Gryse, Brussels 1999, Ed the Credit Communal. [10] (http:/ / www. artnet. com / artist / 424730783 / georges-emile lebacq. html) [11] . in “Les artistes d’aujoud’hui”, Franz Nivil, 15 April 1928 [12] Illustration of the "Contes à la niche" by Hubert Stiernet 1909 - Éditions Lebègue - Brussels [13] Preface of Catalogue for the exhibition of the painter from 15 to November 25, 1923, at the Galérie du Journal in Paris, 100 rue de Richelieu.