Figure 1.--An important modern artist is Gustave Van de Woestyne (1881-1947), a native of Flanders. He was a native of Ghent. Here is an interesting semi-modernist painting by the well-known Belgian painter Gustave Van de Woestyne (1881-1947). The picture in the attachment is entitled "Gaston and his Sister". They are children of about 11-14 years of age as far as we can tell from their rather stylized dress, which is all in black.

An important modern artist is Gustave Van de Woestyne (1881-1947), a native of Flanders. He was a native of Ghent. Here is an interesting semi-modernist painting by the well-known Belgian painter Gustave Van de Woestyne (1881-1947). The picture in the attachment is entitled "Gaston and his Sister". They are children of about 11-14 years of age as far as we can tell from their rather stylized dress, which is all in black. The boy wears short trousers with black stockings and the girl is in a black dress. Presumably these are school clothes. From the style of the children's dress as well as the evolving style of the painter himself, I think the picture must date from the post-World War I period--I would guess in the early or middle 1920s. Van de Woestyne belonged to a group of artists and intellectuals who are generally known as "the first Latem group". His older brother Karel was a poet and prose writer. The painter spent World War I in Great Britain but returned to Belgium in 1919, and it was at this point that his style began evolving in the direction of modernism--especially expressionism and cubism. The cubist influence is notable in the architecture of the setting in which the two children are seated. Van de Woestyne was much in demand as a portrait painter.

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Created: 1:55 AM 12/5/2011
Last updated: 1:55 AM 12/5/2011