Gustave van de Woestyne was a troubled man. He didn’t make life easy for himself. And even though in his work he gives the impression that even strangers are welcome, sources prove quite the opposite. Almost no one was allowed into his house. When he saw someone approaching the house, he put on his hat and mischievously asked them to come with him as he was just taking a walk. Artist Van de Woestyne was torn between a simple and successful life (he was an outstanding portrait painter) and an unstoppable urge to achieve the unattainable spiritual enlightenment. I continued to hold her.
Van de Woestyne, 1929: “I believe that the artist must rediscover a new virginity every time he completes a painting. The memory of the previous job must be banished from his mind. Every job is a new beginning. If two pieces resemble each other, they are crafts, not art. u201d
Such expression requires an intense and tiring artistic life.
The editors, Robert Hooze and his girlfriend, Catherine Verleysen, have done an excellent job. We now know that Van de Woestyn, rather than being immediately at odds, enters into interaction with his contemporaries and his great source of inspiration, the Flemish primitives of the 15th century. We will have to wait for a new large-scale exhibition. and can carry out extensive technical and scientific research.
www.ftn-books.com has the Scheringa Museum publication on van de Woestyne and de Saedeleer now available.
