Please find below an overview of some of the artworks and artists:
Georges Fonteyn
° Sint-Niklaas, July 25, 1903 - died in 1984
He studied at the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts in Sint-Niklaas, at the Royal Academy and at the National Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
In all these institutions he acquired the most exceptional prizes, including the 'd'Outrelon de Try' prize and the 'N. De Keyzer' prize. Georges Fonteyn was also selected for the Rome Prize. For all these awards he was honored by the city council of Sint-Niklaas in 1925.
In 1942 he was appointed teacher at the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts in Sint-Niklaas where he formed many pupils who in turn won important prizes. He fulfilled his teaching duties with heart and soul and in his long career left a lasting mark on the entire school.
Kunst in de Stad received the artwork “Heilige Family” by Georges Fonteyn, donated by Mr. Richard Borghgraef. This hangs in the portal of the Holy Family Church in Fabiola Park.
Ernest Albert
° Berchem, May 22, 1900 - died in 1976
Albert studied at the Academy and the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Around 1927 he went public for the first time. He appreciated his teachers Courtens, Hens, Pellens and Ciamberlani, but was also strongly attracted to expressionism.
The period from 1927 to 1938 was called Albert's dark period. Then he painted portraits, nudes, naves, flowers, village scenes and still lifes paintings in deep and dark colors.
At 38, after a brief gray period, Albert switched to a light and colorful palette. He discovered southern France, the region of Cézanne. The North Sea was replaced by the Mediterranean, the Flemish villages by French ones. Albert then painted fewer portraits and still lifes.
After the death of his wife in 1948, he married Marcelle Peuss-Breugelmans, pianist and teacher at the Mechelen Conservatory. A year later, he was appointed director of the Academy of Mechelen and Antwerp. Albert discovered Ponsas, a village near Valence. There he moved into an old castle to paint in peace. He now worked a lot with gouache, also in large format. The joy of life radiates from his work. The creative process lasted until the 1960s.
When he retired as a director in 1965, he had been working for 5 years on a fourth period of art, the period of the palette knife. One critic speaks of color mosaics. In 1965 he retired with his wife to a country house in Kalmthout, but in 1968 he became incurably ill. He succumbed there on November 26, 1976.
Ernest Albert's wife donated 11 gouaches to Kunst in de stad. These can be admired at the main entrance of the Clinic VITAZ- moerlandstraat in Sint - Niklaas.
August De Wilde
° Lokeren, June 2, 1819 - died 1886
After his education in Sint-Niklaas, he continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 1851 he was appointed director of the Academy in Sint-Niklaas, where he was president for 35 years. It was then mainly a task of an artistic nature. The director himself also taught in the highest degree.
He co-founded the Oudheidkundige Kring van het Land van Waas in 1861. In 1870 in Dunkirk, with the work 'Love in the Moonshine', he won the prize for painting of the Société Dunkerquoise. 'Portrait of Lady with Watch', with oil on canvas 70 x 57 cm, was donated by the Joos - Kurts family.
Karel Mechiels
° Sint-Niklaas, March 1, 1927 - died in 2017
He studied at the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts in Sint-Niklaas and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He was a laureate of the National Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp and director of the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts in Sint-Niklaas.
Karel Mechiels donated 200 etchings to Kunst in de Stad. Series of those etchings hang in the VITAZ clinic, residential care centers in Belsele, Nieuwkerken and Sinaai as well as in the Plataan.
Rouvroy family
Following the death of our honorary treasurer Maurisse Rouvroy, we were pleased to receive from the family his extensive collection of graphics as a donation.