BUSTE WERNER RUMES

BUSTE WERNER RUMES (WERNER HEYNDRICKX)

(May 3, 1899-20 Sept.1968) was married to Adrienne Bruwiere (1898-1956) He had two children: Greta (b. 1928-2004) and Karel Rumes (b. 1932-1995).

Werner Rumes is referred to as “Maecenas.” Most likely he was, because he held culture in high regard.

“He had good relationships with Lea Steppe, Romain Malfliet, Sander Wijnants, Karel Aubroeck and, of course, Werner Heyndrickx. His love of art was a part of him,” his family says of him. So in 1943 the position of honorary head of the Kultuurcommissie was assigned to him. However, he was much more than that.

The knitwear business 'Werner Rumes-Bruwiere' was located on Prince Albert Street. Later, his son-in-law established 'Immo Hylebos' at the same location.

“When I think of grandad, I think of a well-groomed man, fine moustache, a tie with tie pin, a “stouter” in his vest and a dent hat. On the walls in his house hung many paintings and pen drawings by artist friends and there was a statue here and there,” the family said.

Since Werner Heyndrickx sculpts “character heads,” we also find the characterization given by the family in the sculpture Heyndrickx made of him between 1938 and 1945. Through the details used, he portrays a well-groomed, proud but also caring forty-something. Nevertheless, he also manages to bring out the seriousness of the businessman and a certain affability of the art lover.

With thanks to the Hylebos family for the information.

HEYNDRICKX Werner (1909-1986)

 

Werner Heyndrickx was a sculptor of portraits and figures. His father, Jozef Heyndrickx, was a stonemason. Education at the academies of Sint-Niklaas and Antwerp and at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp (studio of E. Wijnants). Teacher of sculpture at the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts in Sint-Niklaas and the Higher Institute in Antwerp

His workshop was situated near the Tereken cemetery in Sint-Niklaas. For bronze casting he always worked with Achiel Vindevogel in Zwijnaarde. He attached major attention to the patina of a statue.

Particularly in Werner Heyndrickx's early works one can still clearly sense the influence of his teachers Arthur Dupon and especially Ernest Wijnants: in the monumentality and in the  reduction of an image to a number of stylized surfaces . This rather synthesizing style is recognisable in the sculptures of the apostles he made for the church of ‘Kristus Koning’ in Sint-Niklaas. Even though heads, hands and feet have been executed with precision and detail, the vertical folds are stylised. The same approach can be seen in the sculptures ‘Contemplatie’ and ‘Familie’.

Werner Heyndrickx’s portraits exhale sharp observation. They are the result of a relentless search for an accurate resemblance and for the subject’s character.

He took part in many exhibitions in Belgium and abroad: Antwerp, Ghent, Liège, Namur, Paris, Prague and Bratislava. Prizes : the 'Godecharle Prize', the 'Van Lerius Prize', the 'Doutrolon de Try Prize' and the 'Prize of the Province of East Flanders for Sculpture'.

Kunst in de Stad displays some fifteen works by this sculptor.

 

Kunst in de Stad, april 24,2010