Gustaaf Sorel

Gustaaf Sorel (born January 17, 1905 in Ostend ; † May 14, 1981 ibid.) Was a Flemish painter and draftsman .

life and work

youth

Gustaaf Sorel was the youngest of three children of the married couple Henri Sorel and Maria Blomme. His parents separated three years after he was born. He grew up in the simpler areas of the Fischersviertel of Ostend, where his mother ran a linen shop in the Sint-Paulusstraat. In elementary school he received some basic drawing lessons, but more was not possible at the time, because in 1914, with the outbreak of World War I , his family fled to London . There they were doing very badly economically and they were forced to move several times.

In 1919 his family returned to Ostend. Sorel's mother reopened her shop, which had meanwhile been almost completely looted. Gustaaf Sorel attended the Royal High School in Ostend. Although he was a student of the artist Auguste Distave (1887-1947) there, Sorel was largely self-taught. In a gymnastics club he met Karel Jonckheere , the later writer , know - an acquaintance that became a long-term friendship.

debut

Het Vissersplein (ca.1930)

After his military service in Antwerp in 1925, he trained as an accountant. However, he was reluctant to do this. Rather, he toyed with the idea of ​​embarking on an artistic career. In order to earn something, he worked seasonally in the Casino Kursaal in Ostend.

His first works also date from around 1925. They are linographies and black and white drawings, heavily inspired by the innovative graphic style and the simple design of Frans Masereel and Joris Minne , but also the colored paintings by Masereel must have had a great influence on Sorel to have. In some works, a stylistic influence of his Ostend colleague Leon Spilliaert becomes clear.

An early work - Rachel (East Indian ink on paper) - dated May 1925. It is still a classic figurative drawing, the image of this model being formed by short strokes. He later used the same profile in another drawing in East Indian ink on paper from 1928 ( Jong meisje in de schaduw ). The drawing De lach (1927), in which Masereel's influence is clearly evident , also dates from this period .

These first works were presented in an exhibition in 1929 in the rooms of the local newspaper Le Carillon . An exhibition at the Cercle Littéraire d'Ostende followed a year later . In the course of the 1930s, several exhibitions followed, including a. in the Ostender Galerie Studio , where he gave a joint exhibition with James Ensor and other artists. Ensor praised the new talent with the words Gustaaf Sorel, "c'est le diamond noir de la peinture contemporaine", with which he alluded to the black and white contrast and the light that Sorel's works radiated. At that time it also received positive feedback from art critics.

Foundation of the academy

Op weg naar de kerk (1935)

At that time there was already an academy for the fine arts in Ostend, but there was more emphasis on the technical side of the training than on the artistic aspect. Gustaaf Sorel therefore decided in 1934, together with Alfons Blomme and some other local artists, to found a new academy in Ostend. At the end of the 1930s he also began to paint in color: gouache on paper . He mostly worked late at night in a darkened basement kitchen, by the light of a weak electric light bulb.

The following works date from this period:

• Op weg naar de kerk ( ca.1935 ) - a gouache on paper, with dark coloring, almost black and white.
• Panoramisch landschap - gouache on paper in dark colors.
• De doop (dorpsgezicht) (1937) - another gouache on paper; already more colorful, but the gloomy impression is still there.
• Processie met dragers van een miniatuurkapelletje (1937) - gouache on paper.
• Panoramisch gezicht met volksverhuizers (1938) - a drawing with East Indian ink.
• Zeedijk (1939) - Drawing with tight lines (East Indian ink on paper) (influence by Leon Spilliaert)

Second World War

Op weg naar de kermis (1945)

In January 1940 Sorel was drafted back into the army. After the surrender of the Belgian military on May 28, 1940, he was interned as a prisoner of war in an Ostend barracks. Like many Flemish conscripts , he was released after a few months. He found a job as a city clerk at the Commissie voor Openbare Onderstand and was assigned to winter aid. In 1944 the residents of the center of Ostend were forcibly evacuated on German orders. The Sorel family found shelter with their maternal grandparents in Wezembeek-Oppem near Brussels . From there they later moved to Elsene , where they narrowly escaped the Gestapo .

Even in these difficult times, Sorel continued his artistic work. Gradually his work became more colorful, but the color and atmosphere remained gloomy. Around 1945 he began to paint on canvas with oil paint for the first time.

• Volkstoeloop (1942) - Gouache on paper.
• Publiciteitscaravaan van een circus (1942) - Gouache on paper.
• Bosweg (1944) - Gouache on paper.
• Op weg naar de kermis (1945) - colored oil paint on canvas.
• Kapelletje van Bredene (1945) - East Indian ink on paper.

Sorel painted the simple average person huddled together in the street, as a spectator in front of a fair tent or a circus, or as a follower in a procession. The figures usually turn their backs on the viewer. Only a few figures are shown from the front, with bored, unexpressive faces. Sorel also created some dark landscape paintings and increasingly occupied himself with depicting cityscapes.

Work in the slaughterhouse

After this short stay in Wezembeek-Oppem and Elsene, the family returned to Ostend at the end of 1944. Gustaaf Sorel got a job at the city slaughterhouse in 1946, where he worked until he retired in 1967 for health reasons.

Over the years, his work in the slaughterhouse inspired him to create various drawings in East Indian ink and the paintings Slachthuis in white, blue and gray colors and Bureau in het Slachthuis , a representation of his study.

Reopening of the academy

De IJskelderstraat (around 1950)

In the post-war period he reopened the academy, which first existed as a free academy, which was hardly funded by the state, and finally became the municipal art academy. In 1948 he was appointed director until he was succeeded in 1977 by the Ostend painter Willy Bosschem . At the beginning the academy counted some important names in the teaching body, such as Maurice Boel, Raoul Servais , Jef de Brock and the sculptor Bernard van Humbeeck.

The art academy was the beginning of their careers for many artists, including Etienne Elias, Daniël Declercq, Redgy van Troost, Jacki Tavernier, André Sorel, Hubert Minnebo, Roland Devolder, Francine van Mieghem, Julien Hermans, Mia Moreaux, Denise Verstappen, Pierre Remaut, Roger Remaut et al. a.

This time was a fruitful period for Sorel:

• De drie Zoons (1948) - charcoal on paper (portrait of his three children Louis, André and Willy).
• Het circus (1949) - oil paint on wood; one of his few works with a relatively happy atmosphere.
• Zeewijding (1949) - East Indian ink on paper.
• Winkelpand in de stad (1950) - East Indian ink on paper.
• Duivelsmeisjes und Twee figuren: Travesties uit de Lapin Agile (ca.1950) - gouache on paper.
• Torengebouw (1953).

Breakthrough and death

Moeder met child (1970)

Sorel made a name for himself more and more. He held exhibitions almost every year, mostly in Ostend, but also in Brussels, Kortrijk and finally abroad, such as in Paris (1954), Valencia , Bordeaux , Düsseldorf (1962), New York and Philadelphia .

From 1953 his style continued to develop. As if it were an obsession, he occupied himself with carving out threatening gable roofs. He used thick, black, vertical lines and sometimes high-contrast color palettes. Together with cubist elements, the charisma of his paintings became even more dramatic.

In the 1960s, his health began to deteriorate and he had to have several operations. Nevertheless, he did not give up his artistic work.

• Stadsgezicht (1956) - Oil paint on wood.
• België (straatgezicht) (1957) - oil paint on canvas.
• Straat met eenzame wandelaar (1959).
• De Tweeling (1960) - Oil paint on wood.
• Visserskaai (1963) - oil paint on wood.
• Het Witte Huis (1964) - Oil paint on wood.
• Zicht op de Zeedijk met Straatlantaarn (1965) - Oil paint on wood.
• Hangar I (1965–1966) - oil paint on canvas.
• Spieke (1970) - East Indian ink on paper.
• Moeder met kind (1970) - Gouache on paper (portrait of his wife and one of his sons).
• De Duivel en de Fee - Illustrations for the volume of short stories Als d'oude Peperbus vertelt… (1976).
• De Verloren Hoek (1977).

Finally, as the culmination of his life's work, he received some important retrospectives. He was paid homage to the Museum of Fine Arts in Ostend in 1970 and in 1975 in the Kursaal. In 1978 he received a great honor. On this occasion a book was published, compiled by his son Louis Sorel, with contributions by well-known authors, such as B. his friend Karel Jonckheere.

In 1977 he left the academy as director. His health subsequently deteriorated rapidly and he died in Ostend on May 14, 1981.

Aftermath

Sorel's work was exhibited in the Ostend Gallerie de Peperbusse in 1980 and 1981 . From 1976 to 1991, his eldest son Louis Sorel organized a permanent exhibition of his father's works in the Gustaaf Sorel Museum in Ostend. A major exhibition followed from December 2005 to February 2006 in the Venetiaanse Gaanderijen te Oostende .

A number of his works now hang in the City Museum of Fine Arts in Ostend, but many works are still privately owned. Many of his works are also in collections in Roubaix , Paris, Bordeaux and New York.

Awards

• Prijs van het Oostends Kursaal (1937)
• Prix ​​Thorlet de l'Académie Française (1954)
• Silver Medal de la Ville de Paris (1954)

literature

• Hostyn, N .: Gustaaf Sorel , in: Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek, 10 , Brussels 1983.
• Hostyn, N .: Beeldend Oostende, 1993.
• Hostyn, N .: Press kit for the exhibition Gustaaf Sorel - Waar plant ik mijn ezel? Venetiaanse Gaanderijen, Ostend 2005.
• Piron, Paul: De Belgische Beeldende Kunstenaars uit de 19de en de 20ste eeuw - Art in Belgium , ISBN 90-76676-01-1 .
• Le dictionnaire des Peintres belges du XIVe siècle à nos jours , Brussels 1994.
• Gheeraert, John: Als d'oude Peperbus vertelt ... , Ostend 1976.
• Sorel, Louis: Personal Archives .

Web links

Commons : Gustaaf Sorel  - album with pictures, videos and audio files