Gustave De Smet - Landscape with church

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Landscape with church

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Gustave De Smet

Landscape with church

Galerie Oscar de Vos

Date 1930

Period Expressionism, 1920-1930, 1930s

Origin Gallery

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimension 66 x 81 cm (26⁰/₁ x 31⁷/₈ inches)

Framed dimension 82 x 98 cm (32¹/₄ x 38⁵/₈ inches)

In the years 1929-1936, the color range of Gustave De Smet's works, relying mainly on earth and autumn tones, acquires a rare richness and a great warmth. Nevertheless, with this 1930 painting Landscape with Church, De Smet manages to surprise us with an anomalous palette. The free approach reveals an unusual color expression: ivory white, dove gray, ultramarine and velvet black alternate with pale pink, burnt sienna, ochre and sea green. This unusual harmony lends the village scene at night an unexpected, almost ghostly enchantment. A rich imagination and a successful sense of color lead to an unusual, sophisticated tone.
In conception and composition, Landscape with Church is related to previously realized village scenes from 1928-1929. Through the method of composition, the viewer's eye is once again led to the character at the bottom center, where a lady is taking a walk. The connection to the earlier Cubist style is evident: the forms are condensed into geometric figures. A certain nature-like atmosphere is poetically depicted in an interplay of cubist elements.

Date: 1930

Period: Expressionism, 1920-1930, 1930s

Origin: Gallery

Medium: Oil on canvas

Signature: Signed lower left: Gust. De Smet

Dimension: 66 x 81 cm (26⁰/₁ x 31⁷/₈ inches)

Provenance: - Galerie Le Centaure, 1932, bought by Théo Bogaerts in order of Mr. Nijkerk
- Collection M.B.B. Nijkerk, Amsterdam
- Collection dr. K. Nijkerk, Amsterdam
- Private collection, Brussels

Literature: - Haesaerts, L. & P., Gustave De Smet, exh. cat. (Bruxelles: Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1936), cat.no. 115.
- Langui, E., Gustaaf De Smet. De mensch en zijn werk (Brussel: Manteau, 1945), 239, exh. no. 432.
- Van Hecke, P.-G. & E. Langui, Gustave De Smet. Sa vie et son oeuvre (Brussel: Manteau, 1945), 249, cat.no. 428.
- Vanbeselaere, W., Gustave De Smet. Retrospectieve tentoonstelling, exh. cat. (Antwerpen: KMSKA, 1961), 75, no. 147.
- Kikkert, K., Gustave De Smet 1877-1943, exh. cat. (Warmenhuizen: Oude Ursulakerk, 1978), cat.no. 32.
- Milo, J., Vie et survie du Centaure (Brussel: Editions Nationales d'art, 1980), 105, no. 76.
- Boyens, P., Retrospectieve Gust. De Smet, exh. cat. (Oostende: PMMK, 1989), 166, cat.no. 120 (ill.).
- Boyens, P., Gust. De Smet (oeuvrecatalogus) (Antwerpen: Mercatorfonds, 1989), 229, 399, cat.no. 846 (ill.).
- Denninger-Schreuder, C., Vlaamse expressionisten, exh. cat. (Kortenhoef: Kunst aan de dijk, 1993), 31 (ill.).
- Boyens, P., E. Doove & R. Jooris, De maat der dingen, exh. cat. (Gent: Ludion, 2003), 30 (ill.).

Exhibition: - 1936, Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Gustave De Smet, no. 115.
- 1961, Antwerp, KMSKA, Gust. De Smet Retrospectieve, no. 147.
- 1973, Sint-Martens-Latem, Gemeentehuis, Latemse kunstenaars in Nederlandse verzamelingen, no. 13.
- 1978, Warmenhuizen, Oude Ursulakerk, Gustave De Smet.
- 1989, Oostend, PMMK, Retrospectieve Gust. De Smet, no. 120.
- 1993, Kortenhoef, Kunst aan de dijk, Vlaamse expressionisten, 31.
- 2003, Deinze, MuDeL, De maat der dingen, no. 39.

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