Alexander Struys

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Alexander Struys, around 1894

Alexander Struys (born January 24, 1852 in Berchem (Antwerp) , † March 25, 1941 in Ukkel near Brussels ) was a Belgian portrait , history and genre painter .

Life

Alexander Struys was the son of the Dutch glass painter Dirck Pierre Struys and his Belgian wife Adèle Honorine Theresa Van Bredael. The father had come to Antwerp to complete his artistic training at the local academy. Back at home, Alexander Struys began taking drawing lessons at the academy in Dordrecht with Johann Rutten and with the painter Canta in Rotterdam at the age of six.

At the age of twelve, the family was back in Antwerp, he was from 1864 to 1871 a student at the Academy , the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten with Polydore Beaufaux (1829-1905) and Joseph van Lerius (1823-1876). Study trips took him to Germany and, together with Jan Van Beers, to Paris and London. In 1871 he exhibited for the first time in the Ghent Salon: A Young Girl returning from School . His picture Roofvogels / Birds of Prey , depicting two Jesuits stalking a dying man, caused a scandal in 1876 because of his anti-clerical statement.

In 1878 Struys accepted the call to succeed Charles Verlat as professor at the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar . He held this position until 1882, after which he settled in The Hague , but also lived temporarily in Antwerp and Brussels . From this time on he devoted himself mainly to portrait painting.

Two years later came the next change of location, from 1884 he was back in Belgium and now had his residence in Mechelen , Boulevard des Capucins No. 172. Here he became director of the Mechelen Royal Drawing Academy. Struys was a member of the Royal Belgian Academy and the Institut de France . Alexander Struys died in 1941 at the age of 90 in Ukkel near Brussels. His grave is in the Antwerp Schoonselhof cemetery .

As an artist, Struys gained fame for his portraits, but above all for his genre scenes inspired by misery and social grievances, which were usually kept in dark colors. His works can be found in museums in Antwerp, Brussels, Doornik, Gent, Mechelen, Dordrecht and Weimar.

“Another great realist, Alexander Struys […], seems to be the roommate of all of these poor, worried, badly ventilated and dark huts. The sparse light caresses the sorrowful faces and the poor furniture; but when the sun really penetrates the small, dirty apartment through the door or window more freely, it transforms into a brightly colored home with bright, shimmering colors [...].
[Description: Alexander Struys, lace maker (Gent, museum).] "

- Max Rooses

plant

An important phase in Alexander Struys' work was formed by three works that depict scenes from Martin Luther's life. Their client was the Grand Duke Carl-Alexander von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach . Eighteen large pictures were created in which scenes from Luther's life from school to death were shown. From 1869 onwards, the pictures were created within 13 years by painters from the Weimar Art School: by Ferdinand Pauwels (7), Paul Thumann (5), Willem Linnig the Younger (3) and Struys. The paintings were intended for the so-called Reformation rooms on the Wartburg .

  • Luther's sermon in the city church in Leipzig
  • Reconciliation of the two brothers, Count Mansfeld, through Luther
  • Luther's death at Eisleben in 1546

Works (selection)

Alexander Struys: Birds of Prey 1876
Alexander Struys: It's Not Enough
The Gazebo (1879)
  • Birds of prey (Jesuits as legacy sneaks ) , "Roofvogels, God is dood" (NL), "Birds of Prey" (EN) ( Hermitage Saint Petersburg )
  • Disappointment (not enough).
  • Peut-être? "Maybe ?"
  • Everything there.
  • Comfort the afflicted.
  • Trust in God.
  • De Broodwinner. 1887
  • Visiting the sick, “Het Bezoek bij den zieke”. 1893
  • Lace maker, “De Mechelsche Kantwerkster”. 1902
  • Alone at the rendezvous.
  • Desperate.
  • Portrait of Catharina Beersmans
  • Portrait of Mrs. Mathilde Arnemann ( Klassik Stiftung Weimar )

student

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander Struys  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Fernand Khnopff : Alexandre Struys, a Belgian Painter . In: The Studio, an Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art. Vol. 41. No. 174, London, September 1907, pp. 283-287 (digitized version of Heidelberg University) (English).
  2. ↑ Walther Scheidig: The History of the Weimar School of Painting ... p. 111ff (see literature)
  3. ↑ Grave of Alexander Struys on schoonselhof.be (Dutch)
  4. ^ A b Max Rooses: History of Art in Flanders - Belgian Art in the 19th Century. Chapter V, Julius Hoffmann, Stuttgart 1915, p. 351 f ( archive.org ).
  5. ↑ a b c d images at bildindex.de
  6. ↑ Heinz Stade: Exhibition on Wartburg shows facets of the Reformation: 'Luther's picture biography - the former Reformation rooms'. Thüringer Allgemeine , May 16, 2012, accessed on August 24, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Catalog of the art exhibition in the Munich Glass Palace in 1890, illustration: p. 132 (digital copy BSB online)
  8. ↑ Catalog of the art exhibition in the Munich Glass Palace in 1892, illustration: p. 75 (digital copy BSB online)
  9. ↑ a b c illustrations In: Pol de Mont : De schilderkunst in België van 1830 dead 1921. Martinus Nijhoff, 's Gravenhague 1921, plates 83-85
  10. ^ Catalog of the International Art Exhibition. Berlin 1896, illustration: p. 143, (digitized GBV )
personal data
SURNAME Struys, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Struys, Alexandre; Struijs, Alexandre; Struys, Alexandre Théodore Honoré (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian portrait, history and genre painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Berchem (Antwerp)
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1941
Place of death Ukkel , Brussels