Ostend, 1927-1929, last part, 18th Issue.

 

 

« On a 1930 morning, I decided to think back about my stay in the Flanders region. I had done quite a lot of paintings, met the best Belgian painters, and gained quite an experience of all that. But I had come to paint much less and I had to admit that I was having  a life a bit too happy, in spite of the fact that we had scarce money availability. I took the decision to come back to France with wife and children”.

 

You may have discovered some works of Félix Labisse in the former issue but many other  artists were present at Ostend at that period: James Ensor, Léon Spilliaert, Permeke. You will discover hereunder some stories of Alfred Courmes, and some information and data about these painters.

 

 

 

“La vieille coquette”, 1928, oil on canvas (97 x 80 cm) privately owned. ©adagp

 

 

 

 

 

 

Studies for “La vieille coquette”,1928. ©adagp

 

 

Some details of « La vieille coquette » that you can enlarge by a simple click.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some flashback:

 

"[...] But sales were scarce. My family was becoming more numerous. I had the idea to launch a trading activity with paintings (…) I was acquainted with a bookseller, Corman. He had arrived in Ostend with heaps of books, and had started to sell them, without any rights, in the corridor leading to the offices of the newspaper “Le Petit Ostendais”. In less than a year and a half, he succeeded in buying a building across the street and to open a second shop. We asked him to lend us a portion of his shop to present a little painting gallery. This is where I presented some of my paintings together with works that Labisse, Permeke, Spilliaert gave me in deposit. I even arranged to have paintings coming from Paris done by Gampert, Severini, Madeleine Luka. I must admit that we were not sellers much devoted to their job. We were loosing a large part of the day by playing poker, waiting for visitors to pass by. We succeeded to sell only one painting, done by Madeleine Luka (…)”

 

 

 

 

  “Homme accidenté par une scie à bois, 1927, oil on canvas (60,2 x 73 cm), privately owned. ©adagp

 

 

 

Study for « Homme accidenté par une scie à bois », signed and dated 1929 latter on in 1980, which is a mistake as the painting (that Courmes thought destroyed) is dated 1927. ©adagp

 

 

 

 

“Lendemain de carnaval”,1929, oil on paper stuck on a canvas (71 x 89 cm), privately owned. ©adagp

 

 

 

James Ensor: 1860-1949

 Link to Wikipédia

 

 

“He was a charming and friendly man. He had no workshop. He painted in the dining room at the first floor of his house, among an incredible mess: heaps of potteries, human skulls with pipes and hats (…) I was glad to admire at his home his huge painting “The entrance of the Christ at Brussels”. It had been bought by the RoyalMuseum, but it had been negotiated that he would keep it up to his death. Ensor qualified himself of “fauve”. But I did not think he should be classified in that movement. Ensor was Ensor, a unique phenomenon. I would describe him as a Belgian painter mixed with English art, due to his father who was British.”

 

 

“The entrance of the Christ in Brussels”, 1888, oil on canvas (2,58 x 4,30 meters)  Los Angeles, Getty Museum 

 

 

 

"Les Masques singuliers", 1892, oil on canvas (100 x 80 cm)

"Ensor aux masques", 1899,oil on canvas (120 x 80 cm)

 

 

Constant Permeke: 1886-1952

Link to wikipédia

 

 

“Permeke is a great painter. With Ensor, he was one of the best at this time in Belgium (…) Very significant paintings that will last for long. I met him quite often, at his home or at mine. It was thought that there was an influence of Vlaminck in his paintings, possibly rightly. But Permeke has succeeded to find his own language. All art history is composed of  interrelated successions that among great painters get dimmed up to the time where they dominate their own interpretation of the world”.

 

 "La Kermesse", 1921, oil on canvas (78 x 110,5 cm). © SABAM, Belgium

 

 

 

 

 

"Homme avec seau et brosse, 1928,

pencil on cardboard (27 x 21 cm). © SABAM, Belgium

 

« Niobé », 1951, concrete (71,5 x 273,5 cm, without the base stand) 

The sculpture weights about one ton. © SABAM, Belgium

 

Retrospective Permeke in 2012 at the "Bozar" of Brussels

 

 

Léon Spilliaert :1881-1946

Link to wikipédia

 

 

“I also met Spilliaert. A great painter of Belgium who had one eye on Munch works and the other one on German Expressionists. He painted mainly with water colours, ink, gouache, pastel colours … This Flemish guy went through all influences. His happiness, his ability to represent all subjects, his taste for unusual things seduced some Parisian art merchants including Paul Guillaume. Among all great Belgian painters, with Ensor, he was the one who had a deserved success in Paris.”

 

 

 

“The swimming girl”,1910, ink, pastel coloured paper, Fine Art Royal museum of Belgium, Brussels

                                                         “Young maiden on the beach”,1924

“Spring” 1911, ink, gouache and pastel on cardboard (70 x 89 cm)

 

 

To know more:

 

“La vieille coquette”, 1928, has been shown:

 

-         1930 Giroux Gallery, Brussels.

-          1989, Retrospective, La Piscine museum, from April 29^th to June 11^th, Roubaix.

-          1989  Retrospective, Sainte-Croix museum, from July 3^rd to September 4^th, Poitiers.

-          1989, Retrospective, Georges Pompidou center, from September 12^th to October 22^nd, Paris.

 

“La vieille coquette”,1928, was subject of following publications:

 

      -    Vitalie Andriveau – Gilles Bernard, Alfred Courmes, foreword by Michel Onfray,

Cherche midi editor, 2003, page 55.