Achilles Moortgat

Achilles Moortgat in his studio, April 1931

Achilles Moortgat (born June 15, 1881 in Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde , † December 9, 1957 in Baasrode ) was a Flemish sculptor and landscape painter .

Life

Achilles Moortgat studied sculpture in 1904 at the St. Luke School in Ghent . He then worked for a long time in the sculpture studio of his uncle Alois de Beule (1861–1935). In 1904 he received the "Primus Medal". He then attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and in 1909 received the “Prix-de-Rome” for his sculpture “Orpheus ”. Since 1911, he headed the studio of Gerd Brüx (1875 to 1944). Brüx met Moortgat in 1911 and persuaded him to come to his studio in Kleve . In More parish priest active Augustin Wibbelt (1862-1947), who was among the visitors to the fixed Brüxschen studios since 1906, had applied to the young Moortgat some pressure to become self-employed. In 1914, when the First World War broke out, Moortgat, as a Belgian citizen, ran the risk of being interned as a foreigner without work. That is why Gerhard Spenger , the dean of the collegiate church , campaigned for Moortgat with the police. So he was able to stay in Kleve and open his own studio. After the First World War he often worked with the Dutch sculptor Hubert Daniels (1881–1944). In 1936 Moortgat was one of the co-founders of the Klevian artists' guild "Profil" and had also participated in their annual exhibitions.

During the Second World War Moortgat stayed in Kleve with his wife Louise Mommens and their daughter Mia, who was born in 1915. He had adapted to the cultural conditions in Germany and entered the Reich Chamber of Culture . In the air raid on Kleve in 1944 , his home and studio on Gruftstrasse in Kleve were destroyed, and Moortgat took the opportunity to return to Flanders at the age of 64, mainly to depict the Baasrode region with landscape painting. He died on December 9, 1957 in Baasrode. On December 12th he was buried in the St. Gillis cemetery near Dendermonde.

plant

Achilles Moortgat , who was influenced by Constantin Meunier (1831–1905) and George Minne (1866–1941), gained great popularity in the thirty-four years of his work in the Lower Rhine region, not only as a sculptor, but above all as a painter . Here he built on the so-called School of Dendermonde, a Flemish Impressionist movement. The subjects of his paintings were particularly the Flemish cities such as Bruges and Ghent as well as motifs along the Scheldt , subjects from the area around Kleve and views of the Rhine .

literature

• Guido de Werd et al .: Achilles Moortgat. 1881-1957. A Flemish sculptor and painter on the Lower Rhine . Boss, Kleve 1981.

Web link

• Short biography about Achilles Moortgat ( Memento from September 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (French)
• Klaus Hübner: A Flame at the foot of the castle