Gustave CAMUS 'St Guenole' Oil on canvas painting, 1962

At the age of 14, he was apprenticed as a house painter, but gave up this activity as soon as his art could support him, from 1939 onwards. He studied drawing with the sculptor Eugène Paulus at the École industrielle de Charleroi (1930-1934), and with Léon Van den Houten at the Université du Travail (1932-1937). With Georges Wasterlain, he founded the group L'Art vivant au pays de Charleroi (1933). After the war, critics confirmed his talent and he taught painting and drawing at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Mons (1951-1976), where he was director from 1961 to 1966, and again from 1975 to 1976). His students included Daniel Pelletti and Jacqueline Brison. His first period was Impressionist (1930-1946), although he was closer to Fauvism than to Monet. It was after a trip to Brittany that he began his second period, which was to have a more profound effect on his work (1946-1950). There was a great deal of research that took him back to Wallonia (1950): slag heaps and roller frames became part of his painting, which became more graphic. His aim was to disseminate Walloon art, of which he was an ardent defender. He took part in two artists' groups, Hainaut cinq, which set out to Offer to our eyes the image of the beauty that the Walloon land can inspire (1964) and Octo (1979).