Camille BARTHELEMY

Beautiful large etching by Camille Barthelemy, depicting L'impasse de Malines. It is signed by the artist in pencil in the lower right-hand corner and dated 19. It is included in André Martin's catalogue raisonné Les gravures de Camille Barthélemy. The dimensions of the bowl are 43x30 cm and the dimensions of the plate are 60 cm high and 44 cm wide. Oak frame. Camille Barthélemy (1890-1961) was a Belgian artist who was born in Saint-Mard (Virton) on 28 November 1890 and died in his native village on 12 January 1961. An engraver (drypoint), painter (oil, watercolour) and draughtsman, he lived and worked in Chiny and Chameleux to be as close to nature as possible. His drawing teacher at the local secondary school, Nestor Outer, noticed his talent for drawing very early on and encouraged him to pursue art studies. From 1906 to 1914, he attended the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and began working with decorative painters. He began painting in 1916, but also taught drawing at the Schaerbeek and Diest middle schools. Initially attracted by Flemish landscapes and Impressionism, he gradually returned to painting the Ardennes in strong colours and geometric forms. The exhibition L'Ardenne sous la neige (Brussels, 1931) established him as one of the best painters of the region. He moved away from the region, however, and settled in Chiny, in a house he had bought in 1922 with Irène Fech, a schoolteacher in Arlon whom he had married in 1920, and devoted himself to painting Gaume landscapes. Mentioned in BASII and in Deux Siècles de Signatures d'Artistes de Belgique.