Firmin Baes

Woman in gold

Firmin Baes (born April 18, 1874 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode , † December 4, 1943 in Brussels ) was a Belgian painter , pastel artist , draftsman and poster artist .

life and work

Baes was the son of Henri Baes and Héloïse Boly. His father was a decorative painter, architect, director of the École des Arts décoratifs de Bruxelles and a member of the Commission des Monuments historiques (Commission for Historical Monuments).

Firmin was trained as a decorator by his father. While working with his father, he met the painter Léon Frédéric around 1880 , who became his master. From 1888 to 1894, Baes studied at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles . With his fellow students Emile Fabry and Victor Rousseau , he founded the “Académie de la Patte de Dindon” in 1894, which was named after a café of the same name on Grand Place in Brussels.

He became closely associated with the artist group around the magazine “Pour l'Art”, which was published by Octave Maus , Edmond Picard and Emile Verhaeren . In 1898 Firmin Baes joined the group, whose members included Jean Delville , Victor Rousseau , Hector Thys and others. In 1900 he exhibited a painting “Archers” at the “Pour l'Art” exhibition, with which he received the bronze medal at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris .

Around 1900 Firmin Baes developed a pastel technique on canvas that contributed in large part to his fame.

In 1902 he married Marie Nélis, a friend of his two sisters Irma and Alice. The couple had three daughters. As a writer, Baes wrote an illustrated history of painters in 1941 (Librairie Générale-Cooreman, Brussels).

He was an amateur actor and a member of a revue for which he wrote plays.

In 1923 he was appointed officer of the Belgian Order of the Crown .

Firmin Baes created 1,340 paintings in his life, including 212 portraits, 264 still lifes, 152 nudes and 227 landscapes. The artist also created several posters, murals, and also many drawings and pastel sketches that he gave to his friends.

literature

• Edgar Alfred Baes: Baes, Firmin . In: Ulrich Thieme , Felix Becker (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. tape 2 : Antonio da Monza-Bassan . Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1908, p. 348 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Baes, Firmin in: Larouse (digitized version )

Web links

Commons : Firmin Baes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Firmin Baes. Biographical data and works in the Netherlands Institute for Art History (Dutch)
• Stephen Ongpin Fine Art Biography (digitized)
• Gallery (digitized version)