Louis Thevenet - Table with oil lamp

Technique: Watercolor Hand signed: Signed by artist lower right. Period: 1904 – 1914, the “bourgeois” period. Size of watercolor: 48 x 60 cm. Frame: 77.5 x 91 cm. Wooden frame is 6 cm wide and 4 cm high in matching colours. Watercolour is behind non-reflective glass. Condition: very good considering the age of the watercolor. At the moment there is an overview Expo 'Louis Thevenet. A life in color'. This can be visited until October 28, 2024. Biography Louis Thevenet Born in Bruges on 12 February 1874 as the youngest of 4 children. His mother is West Flemish and his father is of French origin. He grew up in a musical family in Brussels and had various professions: errand boy, baker's assistant and assistant cook on a long-distance ship. Afterwards he became an errand boy at a music publisher. This is where his passion for art gradually developed and he decided to become a painter. He made contact with people with whom he would remain friends for the rest of his life: poet René Lyr, painters Pierre Scoupreman and Auguste Oleffe, his teachers. 1897 – 1906 He stayed with Oleffe in Nieuwpoort for 5 years and in Brussels he gradually received more recognition. In 1902 Thevenet joined the art circle Labeur, with members such as Charles Dehoy, Willem Paerels and Ferdinand Schirren. He had his first exhibitions, including a participation in the renowned exhibition “La Libre Esthétique” in 1906. 1907 – 1916 He stayed in various places in Brussels and the surrounding area until 1916 and came into contact with art lover François Van Haelen, a brewer from Beersel who gave him a secure livelihood. This patron brought together many artists who inspired each other. This is where the seed of Brabant Fauvism lies. In 1908 he married Emma Tevels from East Flanders in Beersel. She kept a careful record of the works sold in a notebook. Many works were also exchanged for things in kind at the baker's, butcher's, coalman's or as payment of the current accounts in the café. In 1912, the couple took on the foster care of the 14-day-old girl Jeanneke Mommaerts. In 1913 an individual exhibition was held at Giroux. In 1916 the family moved to Halle and lived for 10 years in a rented house with a walled garden at the end of a dead-end alley (Sollenbeemd no. 52). 1917 – 1930 From 1926 onwards the family lived in their own house at Hendrik Consciencestraat 41 (current number 58). Louis Theve60net died in Halle on August 16, 1930 and was buried there on August 19. Oeuvre and painting style. In total, Louis Thevenet is said to have painted around a thousand paintings. Drawings, etchings, pastels, watercolours and monotypes are not included. The vast majority are still lifes and interiors. Occasionally he also paints a landscape or a city view. The character as a subject (portrait) is almost completely absent and “nudity” does not appear at all. Thevenet may be considered an autodidact, leaving aside the period when he was in the company of Auguste Oleffe and the period when he visited the Académie Libre and the art circle L'Effort. However, however independent he may be of "professional artists", his work shows similarities with three art movements that were 'in' around the turn of the century. We see characteristics of realism, impressionism and fauvism, but in a less orthodox way, as is often the case with autodidacts: • o Realism: not social realism like Gustave Courbet but atmospheric intimacy and cozy domesticity that we find in the works of Henri De Braekeleer and other “minor Flemish masters”. Their love for details points to a humble attitude towards everyday objects that we also find in a large part of Thevenet's paintings. Objects become subjects in themselves and depending on their material they catch or reflect light. o Impressionism: he adopts little of the impressionist principle of juxtaposed colours and changing light shades, but his palette does become brighter and his brushstrokes livelier. He becomes the heir to a “native” Belgian impressionism of which James Ensor is the most striking representative. He sometimes prefers sharp and dissonant colour harmonies. o Fauvism: a certain chromatic looseness, colour optimism and spontaneous colouring in some of his works make it possible to call Thevenet a fauvist. He knows quite a few Brabant fauvists or is friends with them. Examples are Ferdinand Schirren, Charles Dehoy, Edgard Tytgat, Rik Wouters. Thevenet's work can be divided into two periods based on the environment in which he lives. This division is rather artificial because there are no fault lines in his works. o The “bourgeois” period: during this period from 1904 to 1914, Thevenet was able to develop and live it up thanks to the safe protection of patron brewer Van Haelen. He painted a series of masterful interiors that were both iconographic, chromatic and and compositionally very original. This is a small revolution that is only recognized later, because in that period landscapes are especially popular. During these years when his talent is taking shape, he uses a palette of mainly brown and ochre, here and there accentuated by green and black tones. Gradually the composition is enlivened with lighter shades of pink, white and yellow. We notice that some objects keep recurring: the stove, the chest of drawers, the chair, the vase and so on, but that they are always integrated into the composition in a different way and are a pretext to play with colored surfaces and shapes. o The "popular" period: this period coincides with his stay in Halle. He still paints what he saw: interiors, still lifes and occasionally a landscape. His works also acquire a more symbolic content or are linked to the feelings and moods of the artist. In his still lifes one finds what makes him happy: meat, fish, beer, cake, fruit, often with a bouquet of flowers. His color palette varies considerably during this period. Sometimes he uses striking contrasts and dissonances or raw color combinations. In the period from 1904 to 1930, Thevenet has individual exhibitions and also takes part in group exhibitions. After his death in 1930 until now, his works have been exhibited at about thirty retrospective or group exhibitions in Belgium. From 1955, 5 retrospective exhibitions of Louis Thevenet have taken place in the city of Halle, the last of which dates from 1990. Today, his paintings can be found in various museums in Belgium and in art collections of public or private institutions, foundations, banks or public authorities. Some of Thevenet's works can be viewed in, among others, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels and Antwerp, the Groeninge Museum in Bruges, the Dhondt-Dhaenens Museum in Sint-Martens-Latem, the municipal museum of Ixelles and the municipal museum den AST in Halle. The majority of his collection is privately owned. Currently (2022) there are almost 600 paintings by him known and registered. Louis Thevenet 2024 At the moment there is an overview Expo 'Louis Thevenet. A life in color'. This can be visited until October 28, 2024. For the exhibition 'Louis Thevenet. A life in colour', the AST brought together a hundred top works, mainly from private collections, which offer a beautiful sample of the oeuvre of this idiosyncratic Brabant Fauvist. Most of the works are coming out for the first time in 30 years and some have never been on public display before. Such as the still life that Queen Elisabeth bought in 1910 at the Brussels World Exhibition. You will also discover more about the adventurous life of Thevenet and his entourage.