Monday, December 17, 2018

Georges van Zevenberghen, Belgian Inspired by Chardin

As the title of this post mentions, Georges Antoine Van Zevenberghen (1877-1968), was presumably inspired by Chardin's paintings. Well, that's what this nearly-worthless French Wikipedia entry mentions: "Il partit ensuite pour Paris en 1903 où il admira les œuvres du peintre du xviiie siècle Jean Siméon Chardin qui le marquèrent durablement."

It seems that van Zevenberghen spent most of his long life in Belgium, enduring periods of German occupation in both World Wars. His main travels apparently were to Paris. The entry also notes: "En 1933, il devint professeur à l'Académie royale des beaux-arts de Bruxelles, fonction qu'il remplit jusqu'en 1948." So he was regarded highly enough to become a professor in the Academy.

Not many of his paintings can be found on the Internet. They are generally solidly done. There is one that stands out, however, as can be seen below.

Gallery

La repasseuse - 1907
The earliest of his paintings that I could locate.

Les modistes - 1915
Painted during wartime when most of Belgium was German-occupied.

Le joueur de violoncelle
The cello player. Several of his paintings feature cellos.

Adagio - c. 1930
Another cello.

Le jugement de Pâris - 1937
A rare Academy-themed work done while he was a professor.

La cigale ou la musique - The Cicada or Music
I'm not sure what the title means. Also, apologies for the poor quality of the image, but it's the best I could find in that size range.

The Manet - 1922
I think this painting is the best of the lot, though it's not particularly characteristic of his work.

2 comments:

Hels said...

Thank you for the Zevenberghen image of the woman ironing. Not only is it a splendid painting in its own right. But it also slotted beautifully into my theme of Edwardian women doing domestic work. I would not have found this Belgian artist by myself.

Do you know where his painting hangs?

Hels
Art and Architecture, mainly
melbourneblogger.blogspot.com.au

Donald Pittenger said...

Hels -- It was auctioned two years ago, so seems to be in a private collection.