Théo HUMBLET "Les citadins le dimanche à  la campagne" 1968 painting oil on cardboard

Painter, graphic artist, wood engraver, illustrator, sculptor, ceramist. Trained at the Académie de Louvain with W. Paerels (1936-1937) and until 1942 at Saint-Luc in Schaerbeek. Prix de Rome in 1946. Travels to Yugoslavia, Japan, Mexico and Spain. Moves from Neo-Impressionism, via Expressionism, to a more constructive and poetic Symbolism. In the press: "His interest in portraiture and the female nude was so influential in the '50s that, instead of general representation, he opted for a more traditional line. In the second half of the '60s, he worked on the verge of abstraction, but never really took the plunge. Narrative elements became increasingly important in his paintings. This narrative tendency culminated in his superimposed constructions: single or serial compartments showing rooftop horizons and forming a narrative." and "His figures emerge from an urban or rural landscape and look straight ahead, astonished, annoyed, lost in thought rather than acting." Director of the Académie de Louvain (1959-1979). Works in the Cabinet des Estampes, Brussels, Kortrijk Museum. Mentioned in BAS I and in "Deux Siècles de Signatures d'Artistes de Belgique". Bibl: DICTIONNAIRE DES ARTISTES PLASTICIENS DE BELGIQUE DES XIXe ET XXe SIECLES by Paul PIRON