Schiller Art Gallery

Berth Dubail - circa 1965

In around 1965, an internal struggle gradually led Berthe Dubail to a change of style. A new formal world occupied the space, although the artist remained faithful to certain inflexions and an interplay of curves and ovals. At that time they were less suggestive of the moving orbs of the cosmos and more of the silent presence of mineral expanses. Everything from here on seems to have been a favoured interaction with the earth, its accumulations of sediment, its stratified zones, its spaces swept by the wind and made iridescent by the light. The most original aspect of these paintings is undoubtedly the very nature of the pictorial material itself, made from a mix of sand and oil or casein. In parallel with Raoul Ubac, with these new coarse-grained materials, the artist was seeking soothing balances between minerals and life, through an abstract language that speaks by itself and also seems to embody various kinds of mental geography. Her choice of a sandy material, and a palette in which beiges and ochres dominate, lead the viewer to draw analogies with the mineral world and marine shorelines.

Gilbert Decock - 1983 - 125x125cm

Kurt Lewy - work on paper - mixed media - 1962 - Private collection

was born in Essen, Germany in 1898. He studied at the Folkwangschule in Essen and from 1919 to 1923 at the college of applied arts in Berlin.

He went on to study enamel sculpture in Pforzheim in 1924. Lewy taught graphic arts at the Folkwangschule from 1929 to 1933. In 1935 Kurt Lewy settled in Brussels, where he was arrested in 1940. He escaped from prison in 1942 and returned to Brussels where he kept in hiding for several months. He was arrested a second time in 1944 and imprisoned in Malines until the liberation of Belgium.

His oeuvre was first influenced by the german expressionists. After the war, Kurt Lewy started to paint geometric and became a member of the belgian group "Abstract art" founded by Jo Delahaut in 1952. Lewy obtained the belgian citizenship in 1951.  

In 1959 the artist executed the stained glass works of the synagogue of Essen. Kurt Lewy died in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1963.

Main exhibitions : Essen, Folkwang museum 1926, 1960 ; Breslau, Jewish museum 1934; Aachen, Suermondt museum 1955; Düsseldorf, Kunsthalle 1955 ; Brussels, Gallery Apollo, 1946, 1954 ; Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1952 ; London, Brookstreet Art Gallery 1929, Drian Galleries 1963 ; Basel 1934, Davos 1934 ; New York, Meltzer Gallery 1959  ; Jewish museum Brussels 2020-21

Mario De Brabandere - no title - 2009

For more than 35 years, he has been working on an impressive and extensive oeuvre that mainly contains drawings, paintings, and wall installations. In De Brabandere’s universe, art equals spontaneous and continual creation of new combinations of form, colour and composition, which have become increasingly abstract in recent years. His work has been gaining interest thanks to solo presentations at international art fairs, several participations in the Biennal of Painting, and a first individual museum exhibition (Roger Raveel Museum). 

Schiller Art Gallery is back at the seaside to bring you high-quality modern, abstract art by national artists: Guy Vandenbranden, Gilbert Decock, Pierre-Louis Flouquet, Antoine Mortier, Jef Verheyen, Jan Cox, Michel Seuphor, Felix De Boeck, Mario De Brabandere, Berthe Dubail, Leopold Plomteux, Jean Milo, Georges Collignon to name a few.

The gallery will showcase works by Paul Caulier, a renowned architect in Brussels during the 1960s and 1970s. Caulier played a pivotal role in the development of Brutalism in Belgium, leaving a lasting impact on the architectural landscape of the country.

We will be delighted to welcome you in our new space at 250 Zeelaan, 8670 — Koksijde, from 13th June until 15th September 2024. Our operating hours are Thursday through Sunday, from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

With our 10 years experience, Schiller Art Gallery is devoted to the secondary market, buying, selling and providing clients with advisory services. Our main focus is to recommend the right artworks and inform you of market trends in the art world, after understanding your style, wishes and expectations.

We are committed to assessing each client’s individual needs to build their collection, seeking out artworks through extensive research from galleries, artists’ estates and private collections.

We also believe that arts and culture play a vital role in our society, and we hope to share this commitment with you.

We look forward to welcoming you this summer.

Kind regards,
Gregory Verdonck
Manager Director

Leopold Plomteux - gouache - 1952

Originally from the region of Liège, Leopold Plomteux, very quickly freed himself from the influence of his master Mambour to pursue his own path.

He made a short stay in Paris, and frequented the intellectuals of Liège, poets and artists. His artistic career leads him from figurative to constructed abstraction, with a brilliant passage through lyrical abstraction.

Heir to the Closons, Engel-Paks, Lacasses and other Lempereur-Hauts, Leopold Plomteux - like his contemporaries Jose Picon and Georges Collignon - contributed to bringing his letters of nobility to contemporary painting.

He was a founding member of the Belgian group "Art Abstrait" in 1952.

Dear All,
Thank you all for your visit and your interest. Our discussions and exchanges were very interesting. I was very happy to meet you and hope to see you again for our next fairs, shows and openings.
Regards,
Gregory Verdonck

Antica Brussels is open until Sunday.
Hope to see you.

Jef Verheyen
1960
Mixed Media

At the age of fifteen, Antoine Mortier became an apprentice in an ornamental sculpture workshop. He joins the Academy where he takes courses in modeling, perspective and drawing after the antique. He works as a furrier while taking sculpture classes in the evenings. In 1940, he became a chorister at the Théâtre de la Monnaie. Numerous drawings bear witness to this period.

He joins the group of the Jeune Peinture Belge, with whom he will exhibit collectively in Paris and Amsterdam. He left the Monnaie and now devotes all his time to painting. Brushed in large strokes, his Indian ink washes of these years express the gradual transition from figuration to abstraction.

At that time, action painting and abstract expressionism were still unknown in Belgium and led to a lack of understanding on the part of the critics. If he has been compared to Kline or Soulages , he nevertheless differs from them because in him the gesture is not everything, but the embodiment of a starting subject that is "analysed, reinvented, synthesized to the rigor of the sign".

-Ink on paper
-1954
-Private Collection

Victor Servranckx became one of the first Belgian artists to espouse abstraction. He studied at the Brussels Académie des Beaux-Arts from 1913 to 1917 and, after completing his studies, began working at the Peters-Lacroix wallpaper factory, where he designed abstract motifs. Servranckx’s lengthy collaboration with this firm (until 1925), where he met René Magritte, spurred him to take an interest in interior decoration and interior design.

Work on paper
Gouache
Circa 1920
Private collection

To be seen at Antica Brussels 2024

Hope to see you

Dear All,
Schiller Art Gallery is taking part in Antica Brussels 2024
From 17/04 until 21/04/2024 - Tour & Taxis
If you need invitations, please send me a message.
Regards
Gregory Verdonck
Managing Director

Schiller Art Gallery is thrilled to announce its participation at Antica Brussels from 18.04 until 21.04.24

More information to come.

Felix De Boeck - 1920 - Mask

After the WWI, Felix De Boeck reacted to the violence of the war and processed his traumatic experiences for the first time through the deformation of the human face, this resulted in numerous frightening, screaming masks which were built up on the basis of the futurism discovered a few years before. In these fragmented masks he laid the foundation of his first abstract works in 1919.

New display until 31.03.2024
Franz Merjay 104 - 1050 Brussels
Thu to Sun from 12 to 6pm

Schiller Art Gallery is pleased to announce its participation at Wavre Fine Art Fair from 15.02.24 to 18.02.2024.

Are you looking for tickets ? Please do not hesitate to contact Schiller Art Gallery.

More information to come.

Schiller Art Gallery opens a new location in Ixelles for 2 months - Rue Franz Merjay 104 - 1050 Brussels

The gallery brings you high-quality modern, abstract art by national artists: Marc Mendelson, Jo Delahaut, Guy Vandenbranden, Jean Rets, Georges Collignon, Leopold Plomteux Raoul Ubac, Felix De Boeck, Victor Servranckx, Louis Van Lint, Berthe Dubail to name a few.

We will be delighted to welcome you in this new space from 1st February until 31st March 2024. We are open from Thursday to Sunday and from 12 pm to 6 pm.

With our 10 years experience, Schiller Art Gallery is devoted to the secondary market, buying, selling and providing clients with advisory services. We believe also that arts and culture play a vital role in our society, and we hope to share this commitment with you.

Vodou figure (Togo/Benin) meeting early Marthe Wery work.

Louis Van Lint - work on paper - 1957 - ex De Vuyst

Antiques & Art Fair Luxembourg is starting tonight - 6pm

Schiller Art Gallery will present a selection of Belgian Modern Art.

Picture : Guy Vandenbranden - 1975 - 60x60cm

Schiller Art Gallery is pleased to announce its participation at Antiques & Art Fair Luxembourg (24.01 - 28.01.2024) - Booth 2C07

With works of Louis Van Lint, Jo Delahaut, Guy Vandenbranden, Marc Mendelson, Georges Collignon, Felix De Boeck, Jean Rets, Noel Vermeulen ...

Found this very nice picture during a visit.
Sharing it with you
Picture : Opening - Exhibition : Les Premiers Abstraits Belges - 11 - 30/09/1954 - Galerie Saint Laurent.
From left to right : Maurits Bilcke - Michel Seuphor - Victor Servranckx - Jo Delahaut and Mr Toussaint, owner of the gallery.

Like many artists, writers and philosophers from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, Paul Joostens (1889 - 1960) saw Buddhism as a mere human, peaceful philosophy cleansed of the history of war, the dogmatics, the rituals and miracles which are inextricably associated with Western Christianity. A picture of a younger Joostens relaxing in his workplace – probably situated in De Moystraat 36 in Antwerp – shows how the figure of Buddha had a central place in his living room. Buddha also appears in several drawings and photomontages.



#1920 #1930

Antica Namur.2023. Official opening. Weekend is starting. Until 19.11.23. Hope to see you.

Ending the booth (F09) set up.
Hope to see you during Antica Namur 2023.

Always nice to be mentioned !
Paris Match Belgique
Antica Namur
02/11/2023
Thank you

The adventure in Sint Idesbald is ending (until 05.11) and the gallery is starting to focus its energy on Antica Namur 2023. Thinking about how to bring you the best. Hope to see you. Picture : Guy Vandenbranden/ Zéphir Busine

We are looking to buy new artworks ... (1900/1970)

Self taught but possessing the traditional knowledge of a professional, Jacques Guilmot (1927- 2005) was born in Soignies, and born to be a sculptor.

He worked with marble, but had a preference for the blue stone of Soignies and the black, hard, brittle stone of Mazy.  Knowing the intricacies of the mineral world, he respected the material, its hardness, weight and density, and understood how to create from it. At first, pieces consisted of very simple shapes such as cylinders, spheres, cubes, squares and discs: very abstract works built purely and simply, calling for calm and serenity.

Copyright : Musée d'Ixelles

Schiller Art Gallery is pleased to announce its participation at Antica Namur 2023 - Booth F09

The gallery will present a curated selection of Belgian Modern and Postwar Art.

Hope to see you

Regards,

Gregory Verdonck
Managing Director

Francis Olin - 1978 - opt art - published and exhibited.

Francis Olin‘s early geometric abstraction work derives naturally from Mondrian and Malevitch’s rationale. Far from any form of academism, he seeks depth through elementary flat forms, levitating, hovering in imaginary space. Those formal experiments help him find his own, original way, singularising from his predecessors, exploring new media inventively. In the years 1955-1960, he gets liberated from canvas and finalises his first “reliefs”, as he called them, halfway between painting and sculpture. They are made of black or white wooden modules placed on panels as Olin explores shapes made of light and shade, a technique that affiliate him to the generation of artists known as “assemblers”.

In 1952, Luc Peire writes that he’s been struck by the “enchanting power of light” in Olin’s work. Light plays a capital part in the work’s revelation thanks to kinetic effects and conditions the modules’ positioning on the panel. As the watcher moves, optical effects generate movement from bright to dark. Francis grants full power to choose the most adequate point of view and thereby be an actor as well as a spectator of the work’s metamorphosis. Historical hindsight takes the measure of his contribution to optical and kinetic art, a polymorphic movement that has recently recaptured interest and whose undisputed herald is undoubtedly Vasarely.

The serial aspect of the modules implies to subjectively overcome the frame of composition, questioning repetition and time. As Olin was a keen jazz enthusiast, module placement creates rhythm in the conversation between light and shade. The artist proposes interaction, a music score the observers will feel vibrate with their own reading and sensitivity. Beyond its mathematical aspect, the work is actually intuitive.

Olin’s “reliefs” are usually monochromic, black or white. White, the symbol of light, allows an infinity of greys through shade, whereas black, symbol of materia prima, absorbs light. The art of Francis Olin tames light to confer his work its own epiphany. Other colours (yellow, blue) occasionally appear for rhythmical purposes only.

The intention to make three dimensional surfaces vibrate through light will bring Francis out of his confinement to “reliefs” to create monumental pieces, a path where his logic of a constructed form of art naturally took him. Therefore, he will give his reflection on the relation between art and space its full extent with massive pieces in Grenoble, Brehal, Licques. In 1993, Luc Peire recommends him for the decoration of the Albert underground station in Brussels. As he integrated pieces in educational centres or places visited by all kinds of public, he defended an art form accessible to all.

All along his artistic career, he will exhibit alongside such artists as Luc Peire, Michel Seuphor, Georges Folmer, Leo Breuer, Aurélie Nemours, Julio Le Parc, Soto, Tomasello, Vasarely , to name only a few.

Copyright : Xavier Van Den Broeck