Anna De Weert

Anna De Weert (born May 27, 1867 in Gent , Belgium ; † May 12, 1950 there ; born Anna Virginie Caroline Cogen ) was a Belgian painter of landscapes , still lifes , interiors and cityscapes.

Career

Anna Virginie Caroline Cogen was born in Flanders during the reign of King Leopold II . She grew up in a traditionally bourgeois milieu. Drawing and painting with watercolors was part of their upbringing. She received private lessons from artists from Ghent. In this context it should be mentioned that her two uncles, Félix and Alfons Cogen , were artists. She was also interested in literature. On her mother's side, she was the granddaughter of the writer Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck . This artistic environment encouraged her decision to become an artist herself.

In 1891 she married Maurice De Weert, a lawyer from Ghent who also worked as an essayist and journalist. De Weert later became city councilor and Alderman became City Gent. When she got married, she took her husband's family name. In the following years she met the Belgian painter Emile Claus . Around 1893 she took free lessons from him in his Villa Zonneschijn in Astene , the country house of Claus an der Leie . Since 1896 she had her own domicile on the Leie. The Hof ter Neuve in Afsnee was not far from Ghent.

She made her debut as an artist in 1895 at an exhibition in Ghent. Until her death she exhibited her works regularly. It was able to establish itself internationally early on. From 1910 she was a corresponding member of the modern Vienna Secession . She was also particularly active in the Cercle Artistique et Littéraire of Ghent, where she repeatedly took part in small group exhibitions.

She was the driving force behind the creation of a luministic society. As early as 1903 she tried to bring a group together with the Belgian impressionist Rodolphe Wytsman . However, this effort was blocked at the time by the Belgian impressionist Adriaan Joseph Heymans . The Belgian impressionist George Morren had the same idea. Later they were also able to get Claus, Heymans and James Ensor excited about the idea. In 1904 the company Vie et Lumière was founded.

She spent the war years in Ghent. Her husband was deported to the German Reich during the First World War . The oppressive situation did not stop her from developing artistically. On the contrary, she organized her first solo exhibition after the war. The exhibition was a social event. It was opened by the Cercle Artistique et Littéraire in Brussels . The visitors included the Belgian Minister for Public Works Edward Anseele , the Belgian painters Albert Baertsoen and Emile Claus and the director of the Académie des Beaux-Arts Paul Lambotte. For the catalog she was able to win Hippolyte Fierens-Gevaert , a serious art critic and chief curator of the Royal Museums for Art and History in Brussels. In this way she was able to exhibit 77 works in Brussels in March 1920 and 103 works in Ghent a few months later.

In the 1920s she often stayed in Rome ( Italy ), where she wandered for days through the gardens of the Eternal City around the Villa Medici and the Vatican . After the death of her husband in 1930, she withdrew from public life. But she continued to appear as a speaker. Among other things, she talked about Claus' and her travels to the Mediterranean . She celebrated her ultimate triumph in January 1938, when the art society in her hometown dedicated a large retrospective to her.

After her death, she bequeathed her art collection to the city, including the famous portrait of Anna De Weert, which Emile Claus made of her in 1899.

legacy

Her stay in Astene with Emile Claus had a strong influence on her works from that time. In this context she certainly followed Claus thematically: the Leie took a central place in her works. However, they were more chaotic and eccentric. In contrast to Claus, she used more and more colors. With regard to these, their contrasts were harsher and the hues lighter. As with the Belgian painter Jenny Montigny , color took precedence over form. In terms of color, it is difficult to compare her symphonic color poem to the calm, unpretentious scenes of her master Emile Claus. The arrangement, the nuances and the perspectives were not her first concern. The glow of light eliminated all forms of materiality and thus enveloped reality on the contrary.

Already at the turn of the century she was one of the most important luminists. Regarding her artistic work, the Antwerp magazine Kunst & Leven wrote the following in 1904:

“Her talent matured quickly; she has found her way and given form and color to the beauty of her independent artist's unconscious; we will never forget her work. "

On the occasion of the retrospective at the Cercle Artistique in Ghent in January 1938, the critic Frédéric De Smet noted the following in the catalog:

“With rare good fortune she discovered her art, the finest, the most subtle hues in mist or lighting effects that possess and poeticise this marvelous place in Flanders; this setting along the Leie [close to Ter Neuve in Astene] that she has reserved to herself. "

Works (selection)

Tonnelle de rosiers (1920)

• Dans les trèfles , 1890
• Poppies in the garden , 1887
• Stromijten te Afsnee , 1897
• Vue de la lys avec les tours de gand à l'horizon , 1897
• Avond in Afsnee , 1897-1898
• Witte hoeve in de zon , 1897–1898
• Vroege Morgen - Heure matinale , 1898
• De tuinman , 1903
• De leie te afsnee , 1903–1904
• Riviergezicht , 1903–1904
• Stilleven met bloemenvaas , 1906
• Ghent, Kraanlei , 1909
• Groupe d'asters , 1910
• Interior , 1910–1911
• Zomer op het erf , 1913
• Mon jardin - La tonelle de roses blanches , 1914
• Le grand poirier devant la lys , 1915-1916
• Buitenhuis ter Neuve , 1919–1920
• Tonnelle de rosiers , 1920
• Roman Forum , 1921
• De rozentuin , 1924
• La maison de nos amis , 1928
• Le verger de l'hôpital à Gand , 1931
• Mountains à Terre-Neuve , 1936
• Bloemen
• Chrysants
• Marais en décembre
• Meisje aan de Drie Leien - Fillette au bord de la Lys
• Rider spurs
• Rozentuin
• Summer garden with pergola
• Villa à Fossette
• Zuiders landschap

literature

• Johan De Smet: Sint-Martens-Latem. En de art aan de Leie. 1870-1970. Lannoo et al., Tielt 2000, ISBN 90-209-4153-4 , pp. 100-112, 339.

Web links

• Anna De Weert on the MutualArt.com website
• Anna De Weert on the oscardevos.be website
• Works (selection) - Anna De Weert

Individual evidence

1. ^ RKD Netherlands Institute For Art History - Anna De Weert